Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) giants Intelsat, PanAmSat and SES A...
Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) giants Intelsat, PanAmSat and SES Americom lobbied FCC officials from 3 bureaus last week in an effort to keep Emergency Alerts out of FSS hands and in their direct-to-home video customers’ domain. The fixed satellite…
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services operators are questioning 2 of several new Emergency Alert System (EAS) requirements in last year’s FCC EAS expansion, saying: (1) The operators want the FCC to apply EAS obligations “directly” to programming distributors -- FSS’s customers -- rather than “indirectly” to satellite operators. (2) The operators want the FCC to exclude from EAS rules FSS services directed outside the U.S., so as to prevent foreign programming from being interrupted by U.S. warnings. Limiting EAS obligations directly to direct-to-home programming distributors in the U.S. would be the “most logical approach” to emergency alert dissemination, the operators argued. “Putting FSS operators in the role of ‘enforcer’ undermines EAS and harms FSS, with no upside benefit,” they claimed. Intelsat, PanAmSat and SES Americom said they have no way to force direct-to-home programmers like DirecTV and EchoStar to comply with the EAS rules. What’s more, the end result would be a “bizarre and confusing patchwork” of alerts, they said. FSS operators would be responsible for alerts on some DBS channels and DBS programmers would be responsible for others going to the same customer, the FSS firms said. If the Commission decides not to relieve FSS operators of EAS obligations, then the operators want the FCC at least to grandfather existing contracts.