Prasar Bharati PBSHABD News Service Overview
Prasar Bharati, India's autonomous public service broadcaster established under the Prasar Bharati Act of 1990, launched PBSHABD (Prasar Bharati – Shared Audio-Visuals for Broadcast and Dissemination) on 13 March 2024. The service represents an evolution from the internal Prasar Bharati News Service (PBNS) to an open multimedia news-sharing platform available to registered media organizations nationwide.
Service Features and Reach
PBSHABD provides free, ready-to-use news content in five formats: text, video, audio, photographs, and infographics across 15 Indian languages and nearly 50 news categories. The service currently serves 3,600 media organizations including newspapers, news television channels, digital publishers, and content creators. Free access has been extended through March 2027, with PBSHABD 2.0 planned for future implementation featuring new product lines and improved delivery.
Operational Network and Editorial Standards
The platform leverages Prasar Bharati's extensive news gathering infrastructure comprising over 1,500 reporters, correspondents, and stringers nationwide supported by 60 dedicated editorial desks operating round the clock. Content undergoes multiple layers of editorial verification to ensure accuracy and guard against fake, morphed, or manipulated material. All stories are timestamped, datelined, and properly captioned for authenticity.
Registration and Usage Parameters
Eligible organizations include registered newspapers and journals (with valid RNI certificate), television and radio stations (with valid uplink/downlink certificates), and digital publishers (submitting PAN copy). Each organization receives one login shareable within their newsroom. Notably, content carries no Prasar Bharati logo and requires no credit line, allowing smaller media outlets to use national stories under their own masthead.
Institutional Background and Reach
Prasar Bharati operates through Akashvani (46 Regional News Units producing 607 daily bulletins in 92 languages/dialects) and Doordarshan (31 Regional News Units producing over 145 bulletins in more than 22 languages/dialects). PBSHABD extends this infrastructure to serve India's diverse media ecosystem, particularly benefiting smaller regional organizations that lack correspondents in Delhi or abroad.
The service represents shared national infrastructure for credible information dissemination, strengthening the foundation of an informed citizenry through verified content in multiple formats and languages.