Ekta Kapoor - From the lady herself

Balaji Telefilms has ended its three-and-a-half year old association with the Star group. The Star group had been holding nearly 26 per cent stake in Ekta Kapoor's Balaji. However, the six existing shows produced by Balaji and currently on air with Star Plus, will continue.

As per an agreement reached between the concerned parties, the promoters of Balaji will be allowed to buy back 25.99 per cent stake from Asian broadcasting FZ-LLC (ABF), an associate of the group.

When contacted Ekta Kapoor confirmed the news and said, "Yes we are buying back our time slots from Star but our existing shows will continue on Star. This will ensure that we are no longer exclusive on prime time and we can also work with other channels. It is a smart business decision to work on the time slots which earlier we could not do due to the agreement."

Elaborating on her association Ekta further said, "We had got into the agreement three-and-a-half years ago and there was no dispute. It was a pure business decision which was taken by the board jointly in the presence of the COO of the company.

There is only that much prime time that is there and there are other 8 to 10 channels to fill with content. There are so many imperative slots empty and we are working on two more shows for these slots."

But will that not clash with Balaji's own shows on prime time? Ekta says, "Yes, that's happening. In any case Mahabharat clashes with Kucch Is Tarah and with Kasamh Se.

The shows then eat into each others' TRPs." According to Ekta, with so many channels coming up two things are happening - while it is opening up many options there is also fragmentation of viewership. She added, "While some watch Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki, others like to watch Bigg Boss, while some others will watch Betiyaan."

Yash Khanna, Executive Vice President, Corporate Communications, Star, said, "The investment which we had in Balaji Telefilms has now been taken off but the existing shows will continue to air on the channel.

The fact is, if Balaji had a prime time show at say 8.30 pm on Star, they could not air a show on any other channel at the same time. But now, they can go ahead with any number of shows. However, I don't think that it will affect our programming."