The Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA) is up in arms over the proposed BBC News application of mobile handsets and has called for the BBC Trust to block plans.
The BBC news and sports apps were only announced this week at Mobile World Congress but the NPA has been quick to respond, saying the idea would "damage the nascent market" for applications.
The NPA isn't stopping at the BBC Trust either, saying it would speak to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and MPs on the Media Select Committee as well.
Intrusion
"This is not, as the BBC argues, an extension of its existing online service, but an intrusion into a very tightly defined, separate market," said David Newell, Director of the NPA.
"Not for the first time, the BBC is preparing to muscle into a nascent market and trample over the aspirations of commercial news providers."
There are already a number of apps on the market created by the newspapers to deliver news.
Some are free, like the Independent's while others like the Guardian's cost money.
Newell also said about the BBC's plans: "We strongly urge the BBC Trust to block these damaging plans, which threaten to strangle an important new market for news and information."
There's no news as of yet whether the NPA is looking to shut down the whole of the internet for the millions of pages of free news content it delivers on a daily basis.
Via BBC
