Network18 Media, TV18 Broadcast tank up to 19% in a firm market

Shares of Reliance Group companies — Network18 Media & Investments, and TV18 Broadcast — slipped up to 19 per cent on the BSE in Thursday’s intra-day trade amid heavy volumes. Investors booked profit in the shares of the two companies after Reliance and Viacom18 announced partnership with Bodhi Tree Systems.

Network18 Media tanked 19 per cent to Rs 92.40 amid 2.5 times jump in trading volumes. A combined around 25 million equity shares had changed hands on the NSE and BSE till the time of writing of this report. TV18 Broadcast, meanwhile, slipped 17 per cent to Rs 62 on the BSE in the intra-day trade. Trading volumes jumped over four-fold with a combined 148 million equity shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE.
At 01:54 PM, these stocks are down by 15 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 1.4 per cent at 57,007 level.

That said, despite today’s sharp decline, TV18 Broadcast (up 58 per cent) and Network18 Media (up 26 per cent) have outperformed the Sensex in the past six months, which slipped 4 per cent during the same period.

Meanwhile, the stock of Reliance Industries hit a new high of Rs 2,839.65, up 2.2 per cent on the BSE. In the past three months, it has rallied 22 per cent as against 0.73 per cent gain in the benchmark index.

Reliance and Viacom18 on Wednesday announced a strategic partnership with Bodhi Tree Systems, which is a platform of James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems and Uday Shankar, to form one of the largest TV and digital streaming companies in India.

Bodhi Tree Systems is leading a fund raise with a consortium of investors to invest Rs 13,500 crore in Viacom18, to jointly build India’s leading entertainment platform and pioneer the Indian media landscape’s transformation to a “streaming-first” approach. Viacom18 owns and operates the suite of Colors TV channels and OTT platform, VOOT.

Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd. is one of India’s fastest growing entertainment networks and a house of iconic brands that offers multi-platform, multi-generational and multicultural brand experiences.

Network18’s listed subsidiary TV18 owns and operates the broadest network of 57 channels in India, spanning news and entertainment genres. Business Standard