India 2018

Mass Communication 435
began functioning from 1949. It offers its news services in English and Hindi
languages. Bhasha is the Hindi language news service of the agency. PTI
subscribers include 500 newspapers in India and scores abroad. All major
TV and radio channels in India and several abroad, including BBC in
London, receive its services. PTI now has its own satellite delivery system
through a transponder on an INSAT satellite for reaching its services
directly to subscribers anywhere in the country. Increasingly more and more
subscribers are opting for satellite reception. Photo service is delivered by
satellite as well as accessed by dial up.
PTI has also begun satellite transmission by Ku band which offers
subscribers the option of receiving news through a cheaper and small size
satellite receiver. The Agency is on the Internet too. The agency’s news
services have been showcased on its website http.//www.ptinews.com.
Clients also have the option of taking any of PTI’s services through Internet.
PTI news is also available through World Space radio broadcast reception.
The Photo service is delivered by satellite as well as accessed through dialup.
The agency is now engaged in archiving its photos. It employs more
than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and
small town in India. Collectively, they put out more than 2,000 stories and
200 photographs a day.
Its correspondents are also based in leading capitals and important
business and administrative centres around the world. It also has exchange
arrangements with several foreign news agencies to magnify its global news
footprint. Currently, PTI commands 90 per cent of news agency market
share in India. Besides the news and photo services, the other services of the
agency include mailer packages of feature, science service, economic service
and Data India, and screen-based services as News-scan and stock scan. A
television wing, PTI-TV, does features and undertakes corporate
documentaries on assignment basis. The PTI has arrangements with the
Associated Press (AP) and Agency France Press (AFP) for distribution of
their news in India. AP’s photo and international commercial information
are also distributed in the country through PTI.
United News of India
www.uniindia.com
United News of India (UNI) was incorporated under the Companies Act,
1956 in December, 1959 and started functioning effectively from 1961. In the
past five decades, UNI has grown into a major news organisation in India
and, with its vibrant presence, provided the much-needed spirit of
competition in the vital areas of news gathering and dissemination. It also
has a full-fledged Hindi wire service ‘UNIVARTA’ since 1982 and a Photo
Service and a Graphics Service in the same decade. In June 1992, it launched
the first ever wire service in Urdu. UNI’s Photo Service distributes about 200
pictures every day, including sixty international photographs from EPA, the