Prasar Bharati’s Trusted News for India’s Newsrooms
| PBSHABD is the free news feed service of Prasar Bharati, India’s public service broadcaster. Launched in March 2024, it serves as a news wire for the wider media industry. Registered organisations may draw text, video, audio, photographs and infographics in 15 Indian languages. The service is free up to March 2027 and serves 3,600 media organisations. Its content is gathered through a nationwide network and verified through multiple layers of editorial checks. PBSHABD thereby extends the reach of credible information across India’s media landscape. |
From PBNS to PBSHABD: Evolution of a Public News Service
Prasar Bharati is India’s public service broadcaster and an autonomous body created by an Act of Parliament. It came into existence on 23 November 1997 under the Prasar Bharati Act, 1990. The corporation works through two constituents, Akashvani and Doordarshan. Its mandate is a fair and balanced flow of information in the public interest.
News gathering has always been central to this mandate. The Prasar Bharati News Service (PBNS)began as a news wire strictly for the broadcaster’s own editorial teams. Its copy and feeds supported bulletins across Akashvani and Doordarshan. At that stage, the service remained an internal newsroom resource.
The scope of the service was enlarged in March 2024. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) launched PBSHABD on 13 March 2024 in New Delhi. The service now carries the name Prasar Bharati – Shared Audio-Visuals for Broadcast and Dissemination. It gives registered media organisations free, ready-to-use news in text, video, audio, photo and infographic formats. An internal news wire thus became an open multimedia news-sharing platform. The table below traces the main milestones of this journey.
| Year | Milestone |
| 1990 | Parliament enacts the Prasar Bharati Act. |
| 1997 | The corporation comes into existence on 23 November 1997. |
| Till 2024 | PBNS works as an internal news wire for Prasar Bharati’s editorial teams. |
| March 2024 | PBSHABD is launched on 13 March as a free, multi-format news-sharing platform. |
| March 2025 | Free access is extended to March 2026 on completion of one year. |
| March 2026 | Free access is extended further, up to March 2027. |
| Ahead | PBSHABD 2.0 is planned, with new product lines and improved delivery. |
PBSHABD is not a newsroom built from scratch. It is an extension of news infrastructure developed over several decades. The same correspondents, desks and bureaux now serve a far wider set of users. The reach of the content has changed, while the editorial foundation has stayed the same. How that reach works is best understood through the design of the service itself.
| Did You Know?The name of the service carries two meanings. It expands to Shared Audio-Visuals for Broadcast and Dissemination. In Hindi, the word shabd means the spoken or written word. The platform was built to share that word widely, quickly and free of cost. |
PBSHABD: A Multi-Format, Multilingual News Feed
PBSHABD is a news feed service of Prasar Bharati, open to media users round the clock. It supplies timely, authentic and ready-to-use news content from India and the world. The feed carries developments as they occur, from the national capital to district headquarters.
Its users are registered media organisations, digital publishers and content creators. Newspapers, news television channels and digital news publishers form the bulk of this base. In two years of operation, the service has built a user base of 3,600 media organisations.
Content is offered in five formats, namely text, video, audio, photographs and infographics. News is provided in 15 Indian languages and under nearly 50 news categories. Coverage extends across national, regional and local developments. The service is free of cost. Registered users pay no subscription fee for the content they download. Free access has been assured up to March 2027. Read More About Features & Benefits of PBSHABD
Who can register
Registered newspapers and journals may sign up with a valid RNI certificate. Television and radio stations require valid uplink and downlink certificates. Digital publishers may register on submission of a copy of their PAN. Each organisation receives one login, which its journalists mayshare within the newsroom. Read more about PBSHABD registration here.
One Platform, Many Content Products
PBSHABD is designed as a bouquet of services rather than a single news wire. Each product is prepared for direct use by a particular kind of newsroom.
One feature sets the platform apart from a conventional news agency. Content carries no Prasar Bharati logo and needs no credit line. A small newspaper may therefore run a national story under its own masthead.
From the Ground to the Newsroom: The Network Behind PBSHABD
The strength of PBSHABD lies in the network that feeds it. Prasar Bharati runs one of the largest news gathering and desk networks in the country. More than 1,500 reporters, correspondents and stringerscontribute to this pipeline. Sixty dedicated edit desks work round the clock on the material they send. Akashvani and Doordarshan run their own regional news units and bulletin services. Between them, they cover almost every State and Union Territory. The table below indicates the reach of this network.
| Network | Reach on the ground |
| Akashvani News | 46 Regional News Units, 1 Headquarter607 bulletins a day in 92 languages and dialects |
| Doordarshan News | 31 Regional News Units, 1 HeadquarterOver 145 bulletins in more than 22 languages and dialects |
| Field strength | Over 1,500 reporters, correspondents and stringers across the country |
| Editorial desks | 60 dedicated desks working round the clock |
Editorial checks before dissemination
News on PBSHABD passes through multiple layers of editorial checks. The service maintains firm guardrails against fake, morphed or manipulated content. It is careful with material drawn from unverified online sources. Every story is timestamped, datelined and properly captioned. Users therefore know exactly when and where a development took place. Technology widens the reach of this service. The news gathering and editorial network gives it a strong news foundation.
Accuracy, Authenticity and Timeliness: The Spirit of Public Service
Accuracy and authenticity sit at the centre of the service. Content is professionally produced, edited and verified before it is shared. The round-the-clock feed ensures that verified news reaches users without delay. Its range of formats and languages makes the service genuinely inclusive. In a crowded information environment, verified content is itself a public good.
Connecting India’s Diverse Media Ecosystem
Audiences now receive news across many platforms at the same time. Television, newspapers, websites, mobile applications, YouTube and social media all carry the day’s events. A newsroom must therefore publish in several formats every single day. PBSHABD connects Prasar Bharati’s news gathering infrastructure with this wider ecosystem. Newspapers, television broadcasters, digital publishers, creators and platforms draw from the same feed.
The benefit is sharpest for smaller and regional organisations. A district newspaper rarely maintains correspondents in Delhi or abroad. Through PBSHABD it can access professionally produced national and international coverage. Ready-to-use text, video and audio reduce both cost and turnaround time.
The Road Ahead
PBSHABD carries Prasar Bharati’s news gathering capability beyond its own channels. Credible information now travels through thousands of independent outlets. The service is positioned for steady expansion in the period ahead. Free access to the platform has been extended up to March 2027. Media organisations may therefore plan their use of the feed with certainty. The user base has risen to 3,600 media organisations in two years of operation.
Accurate news remains a public good in an age of rapid information flows. Prasar Bharati remains committed to free, fair and factual news reporting and dissemination. Every verified story on the platform strengthens the foundation of an informed citizenry. PBSHABD thus stands as shared national infrastructure for the dissemination of credible information.
