'No Saas-Bahu this time' Ekta Kapoor

The television czarina is all set to expand her empire. Ekta's Balaji Telefilms has just struck a mega deal for a soon to be launched Hindi entertainment channel from the newly formed INX Group. INX is headed by ex Star honcho Peter Mukherjea.

So will the tie-up involve equity participation, or does the deal purely involve content generation? Ekta Kapoor explains: "Well, it's not a financial tie up, but it's still a tie up in a sense, because of the volume of work involved. The deal involves producing a couple of serials and the satellite rights for a fixed number of feature films we make in the future. The programmes we produce for INX will also include reality shows and telenovellas. And since it's a new channel, we will also offer them production support."

But she denies the serials would be clones of the family dramas she produces for STAR. "No saas-bahu serials. Given the brief that the channel will offer fresh programming, we will make serials keeping their vision in mind."

INX entertainment is set to launch by the year-end. And Ekta does not see the new arrangement strain her ties with STAR in any way. "No, this does not affect our current arrangement with STAR. Having worked with Peter Mukherjea in the past, this feels like homecoming," she says.

Incidentally, the INX bouquet of channels will include a Hindi entertainment channel, an English news channel, a music channel and city-specific channels.