MUMBAI: With the poor performance of the third quarter having throttled sentiments, media and entertainment (M&E) stocks had a weak trending on the domestic bourses.

The biggest gainer for the week was TV Today Network, the broadcaster of Hindi news channel Aaj Tak. The company had reported strong third-quarter performance a week earlier.

Multi-system operators (MSOs) were badly bruised as local cable operators (LCOs) pulled down their fiscal third-quarter profits.

Meanwhile, other M&E companies, namely Balaji Telefilms, Entertainment Network (India), Eros International and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group twins—Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) and Reliance MediaWorks (RMWL), were among the few counters that defied the trend.

MSOs hits by Q3 showing

With the revenue sharing contract with LCOs being still not complete and consumer billing issues not yet settled, the cable companies were left fuming.

As such, most of the MSOs suffered to leave up to market expectations and hence were hammered on the bourses.

Siti Cable, Hathway Cable & Datacom, and DEN Networks all ended in the negative zone.

DEN Networks suffered the most during the week. The counter settled for the week at Rs 142.65 per share, down 6.1 per cent on the BSE. This is the sixth straight week of losses for the company.

Siti Cable lost 4.8 per cent before ending the week at Rs 18.75 per share.

Hathway Cable & Datacom was the least sufferer. The counter settled the week 1.8 per cent lower at Rs 254.50 per share on the BSE.

Direct-to-home (DTH) service provider Dish TV settled the week 2.7 per cent lower at Rs 45.75 per share and recorded its fourth consecutive week of losses.

Mixed bag for news channels

News broadcasters had a mixed trending, as activity remained largely surrounded to Hindi news channel operators. Aaj Tak continued to top the ratings chart.

Rating dominance boosted TV Today Network’s performance on the bourses. The counter settled 6.6 per cent higher for the week at Rs 109.40 per share. Now that the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tendered his resignation, the Hindi news major will be looking to generate increased eyeballs. It has already lined up shows with an eye on the general election with the hope to attain higher growth in viewership.

Zee Media turned out to be another beneficiary of the recent political buzz. The counter added 2.2 per cent to conclude the week at Rs 13.51 per share.

TV18 Broadcast suffered the most. New Delhi Television (NDTV) and BAG Films (the operator of Hindi news channel News 24) also suffered from liquidation pressure on the counters.

TV18 Broadcast settled the week 5.7 per cent lower at Rs 20.70 per share, while NDTV ended at Rs 69 per share, down 5.5 per cent. BAG Films closed the week at Rs 2.46 per share, down two per cent.

Raj TV gains amid media reports of stake sale possibility

For entertainment broadcasters, the showing was discouraging. Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) settled the week 3.9 per cent lower at Rs 261.15.

Chennai-based Sun TV Network ended the week 9.1 per cent lower at Rs 329.70.

Raj Television edged up from the market grapevine of promoters axing their stake. On 10 February, moneycontrol.com reported that Raj TV was in initial talks with Star and Sony for diluting stake. Two days later, a business daily quoted Sudip Bandyopadhyay, MD and CEO of Destimoney Securities, which has been given the mandate to rope in an investor, as saying that a couple of television broadcasting companies had evinced interest. The scrip obviously gained from these media reports and the counter settled the week 1.2 per cent stronger at Rs 535.10 per share.

It was a reversal of trend for ADAG’s RBNL and RMWL. The share price of RBNL, the operator of Big FM and Big Magic, edged 2.6 per cent higher to settle the week at Rs 60.35 per share. The company offered exit route to its shareholders at Rs 46.47 as a delisting price.

RMWL, on the other hand, gained one per cent to end the week at Rs 49.05. The company is in the film exhibition and services business.

Radio & print companies maintain low key

It was a repeat performance for the newspaper publishing companies. After scripting the story of negative return last week, there was hardly any change in the trend for leading operators such as DB Corp, HT Media and Hindustan Media Ventures (HMVL).

DB Corp had released encouraging performance for the fiscal third-quarter in the week gone by. But the Indian readership Survey 2013 data has hurt print companies, including DB Corp.

Traders took this opportunity to hammer the counter down. DB Corp settled the week 3.1 per cent lower at Rs 303.30 per share. This was the second consecutive week of losses for the company.

For HT Media (Fever FM), it was yet another week of losses. It settled the week 1.8 per cent lower at Rs 71.70. HMVL too ended 3.4 per cent lower at Rs 127.15.

Jagran Prakashan was the only exception. The counter ended the week 0.8 per cent higher at Rs 87.45.

Other M&E counters fare well

Entertainment Networks (India) Ltd (ENIL) ended strongly on the back of good growth in revenue and higher operating profit for the third quarter ended December 2013. A two-per cent rise in share price helped ENIL to round up the week at Rs 345.00 on the BSE.

Content provider Balaji Telefilms extended previous week’s gain further. Buying activity gathered pace since start of bargain hunting on the counter. It settled the week 2.8 per cent higher at Rs 45.25 per share.

Info Edge witnessed steady buying activity. The counter settled the week at Rs 544.85 per share, up 4.2 per cent.

Despite recording a good show in the third-quarter, Prime Focus dropped 4.2 per cent to settle the week at Rs 28.30 per share. Consolidated revenue strengthened 18 per cent to Rs 213.7 crore (Rs 2.13 billion) while operating profit (EBITDA) jumped 35 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

Owing to weak global cues and disappointing industrial output data, it was yet another week of losses for broader markets.

Moreover, the selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) was heavy on the general sentiment.

The BSE sensex slipped 0.05 per cent or 9.74 points on a weekly basis before settling at 20,366.82 while the Nifty fifty lost 0.2 per cent to settle at 6,048.35.

Of the five trading sessions, the market climbed in three sessions.

Finance minister P Chidambaram’s interim Budget on Monday will largely influence the proceedings on the bourses.