(Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp <6758.T> is in talks to acquire a stake in Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's TV business, Network18 Media & Investments Ltd <NEFI.NS>, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
Sony is doing the due diligence and considering several potential deal options, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Ambani's Reliance Industries <RELI.NS> and Sony did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Network18 Media & Investments Ltd <NEFI.NS> shares rose as much as 18.25% to their highest since June 13 and TV18 Broadcast Ltd <TVEB.NS> shares were up 4% on the report of the talks.
Network18's channel portfolio include VH1, Nickelodeon, MTV, CNBC TV18, and a range of other local language channels, along with news portals like Firstpost and Moneycontrol.
The media company also has a broad suite of news channels including CNN-News18, CNBC TV18, and other regional language news channels that together held over a 10% share in TV news viewership in India in fiscal 2018-19, according to its annual report.
(Reporting by Sabahatjahan Contractor in Bengaluru, Additional Reporting by Sethuraman N R in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Shailesh Kuber)
