Prasar Bharati decides to end PTI, UNI subscriptions; to call for fresh proposals

The move comes months after Prasar Bharati threatened to discontinue PTI's services after it interviewed the Chinese ambassador amid a raging India-China border row

Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has decided to end its subscription to premier news agencies Press Trust of India (PTI) and United News of India (UNI) and call for fresh proposals from domestic news wires.

The decision was taken with the approval of the Prasar Bharati Board, said Prasar Bharati News Services and Digital Platform Head Samir Kumar in letters to PTI and UNI.

The Prasar Bharati Board had held a meeting on Thursday in which the decision was taken.

The letters written by Kumar said Prasar Bharati had been availing subscription to the services on the basis of an ad-hoc pro-rata arrangement since 2006 after the formal contract between the agencies and the public broadcaster ended.

The agencies have since discussed the same and communication to provide fresh viable pricing was sent to them. The PTI was served a notice on 23 April, 2019 while the UNI was issued a letter on 16 October, 2019.

"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 letters said, adding that the PTI and the UNI can also participate in the process once it is notified by the broadcaster.

The fresh move comes months after Prasar Bharati threatened to discontinue the services of PTI after it interviewed the Chinese ambassador amid a raging India-China border row.

In June, Kumar had written to the PTI saying that the "recent news coverage" on the India-China border row was detrimental to national interest and undermining India's territorial integrity. He had also said that the Prasar Bharati had alerted the PTI about the editorial lapses that were detrimental to the public interest.

An RTI by transparency activist Venkatesh Nayak had later revealed that Kumar had written the letter without the approval of the Prasar Bharati Board.