TV channel stocks lead on bourses

Stocks of television channels, including NDTV and TV18, have performed better on the bourses than some of their moviemaking counterparts like Balaji Telefilms, Padmalaya Telefilms and Cinevistas Ltd.

Stocks of media companies, including TV channels, filmmakers and media content providers, have had a mixed run on the bourses since the start of the year, with only seven companies outperforming the Sensex out of 22 surveyed.

Media stocks have been a mixed bag on the bourses due to a variety of factors such as the riskier nature of the business, increased competition, large number of films and serials released every year and rapidly changing viewer preferences.

The stocks gave returns in a wide range - as low as -57.54 per cent to as high as 126.84 per cent. Two of the seven companies, which outperformed the sensex, were TV channels - NDTV and TV18.

Zee Telefilms, promoted by Subhash Chandra, is the lone TV channel which has shown a drop in share value with its stock falling 13.37 per cent from Rs 172.05 to Rs 149.05.

The biggest gainer among media stocks was Goldmines Media Ltd, which saw its stock rocket 126.84 per cent from Rs 4.88 on January 3, 2005 to Rs 11.07 on June 10, 2005.

The second biggest gainer was Warner Multimedia that leapt 69.57 per cent from Rs 2.07 to Rs 3.51.

Other gainers in the media pack were Adlabs Films that rose 62.71 per cent from Rs 115.45 to Rs 187.85; NDTV, which was up 35.11 per cent from Rs 137.15 to Rs 185.30 and Hazoor Media & Power which gained 20.78 per cent from Rs 9.24 to Rs 11.16 during the period.

In comparison, the BSE Sensex gained only 1.54 per cent since the start of the year from 6679.20 to 6781.99 on June 10. Among the losers are big name film and television content providers like Mukta Arts, Sri Adhikari Brothers and Padmalaya Telefilms.

The biggest loser was Media Matrix Worldwide, which saw its stock plummet a massive 57.54 per cent from Rs 47.10 to Rs 20 while the second biggest fall was recorded by high profile Mukta Arts, owned by Subhash Ghai, which dropped 40.97 per cent from Rs 76.40 to Rs 45.10 proving that big names do not necessarily ensure investor confidence.

Other losers in the media pack were Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network, which dropped 37.69 per cent from Rs 121.90 to Rs 75.95; Creative Eye, which lost 24.53 per cent from Rs 15 to Rs 11.32 and Padmalaya Telefilms which fell 21.31 per cent from Rs 52.80 to Rs 41.55 during the period.

The queen of TV soaps, Ekta Kapoor has also not scored well in the stock markets. Balaji Telefilms has seen erosion of 15.03 per cent as its stock slid from  Rs 126.45 to Rs 107.45 during the period.