Key Points
- Prasar Bharati cancelled Doordarshan and All India Radio’s (AIR) subscription with news agencies Press Trust of India (PTI) and United News of India (UNI) in a board meeting chaired by Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati.
- Prasar Bharati has called for fresh proposals for a digital subscription to English text and related multi-media services from all domestic news agencies.
- Prasar Bharati was reportedly upset with PTI’s coverage of the India- China clash.
New Delhi : Prasar Bharati cancelled Doordarshan and All India Radio’s (AIR) subscription with news agencies Press Trust of India (PTI) and United News of India (UNI). The board of the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati took this decision on Thursday at a board meeting chaired by Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati.
Thankful to the Prasar Bharati Board Members for several key decisions earlier today on new content development, resolving long pending commercial disputes, rationalising expenditure on news agencies and technology investments to better utilise satellite capacity. https://t.co/foQ3tyFQXz
— Shashi S Vempati (@shashidigital) October 15, 2020
The Print reported that its sources in the Prasar Bharti said this move was taken to rationalise the DD and AIR’s “expenditure on news agencies”.
“We have been availing subscription to PTI services on an ad-hoc basis since 2006 after a formal contract between the two expired. Both have been in discussion about the same, and a communication in this regard to provide a fresh viable pricing based on discussed parameters was also sent to PTI on April 23, 2019,” an official said.
Prasar Bharati has now decided to call for fresh proposals for a digital subscription to English text and related multi-media services from all domestic news agencies, the letter said, saying that PTI and UNI may participate in the process when they get notified by Prasar Bharati, the official added. The Economic Times reported that earlier last month Prasar Bharati had expressed its deep displeasure in a letter to PTI with regard to an interview with China’s Ambassador to India Sun Weidong by the news agency.
PTI is the largest news agency in India and is a nonprofit cooperative among more than 500 Indian newspapers. According to The Economic Times, Prasar Bharati pays PTI over Rs 6.75 crore for an annual subscription and was one of the biggest subscribers of the agency.
