A popular comedy show and a leading local TV company engaged in a contract-related dispute has been a subject attracting media and public attention in recent weeks. 32 Atam Club and Shant TV have sued each other in court, each claiming that the other party has breached its contract obligations.

In an interview with ArmeniaNow, 32 Atam Production founder and producer Karen Babajanyan said they left Shant TV in 2009 because the company failed to pay them salaries for October and November.

“We sued Shant because they did not pay us what we earned with our sweat,” said Babajanyan.

32 Atam, founded in 2006, includes mainly members of former university KVN teams (KVN, or “Club of the Jolly and Inventive” is a Soviet/Russian humor TV show, popular throughout the former USSR, where teams, usually students, compete by giving funny answers to questions, improvisations, prepared sketches). The “32” show is one of the best known and popular entertainment programs on Armenian TV. Since December the show has been on Armenia TV, whose air is dominated by various entertainment programs and serials. But “32” first became prominent on Public TV where it was on the air on a weekly basis in 2007. (It was on Public TV that a fight between 32 Atam performers and someone in the audience broke out while the show was on live air, but both the TV and the club itself then said it was a ‘staged’ fight that was part of the show scenario.) Later, however, because of differences that arose with Public TV’s administration in November 2008 the show moved to Shant, where it contributed also to several other projects as well, and two of “32” members were even involved in the production of one of Shant serials.

Shant TV company, in its turn, sued 32 Atam for breaching the contract, in particular for unilaterally terminating it ahead of time. The contract obliged 32 Atam to produce one program a week and provide it to Shant until July 31, 2010.

Babajanyan thinks that a bigger breach of the contract is not paying for the work and their departure from Shant, according to him, was a logical step. He thinks that the Shant lawsuit is illogical and that these litigations only provide a PR for them.

“I don’t think that it is a welcome step for a television company considered to a leading one in the country to hamper the work of 15 young people,” says Babajanyan, adding that the TV company has already paid part of the sum owed to them (32 Atam demands 15 million drams, or about $40,000, from Shant, of which 9 million drams, or about $23,000, it has already received).

Lawyer Arman Karakhanyan, who represents Shant TV’s interests in court, told ArmeniaNow that the Shant administration orally informed the 32 Atam club that at this moment they experience financial difficulties and will pay the sum once it becomes available.

“We also think that terminating the contract earlier than time is a bigger breach,” said Karakhanyan.