EAS, Costly to Industry, Seen Limited by Poor Govt. Communication
Cable companies and TV stations spend fortunes on gear mandated by FCC emergency alert system (EAS) rules whose use is limited by poor communication between broadcasters and the govt., EAS officials said. One-year EAS waivers granted by the Enforcement Bureau to almost 40 companies last week (CD July 6 p10) will cut their costs, cable companies said. But exemptions won’t improve industry-govt. coordination near term, said 2 state emergency communications committee chmn. we spoke with.
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The FCC vigorously monitors broadcaster EAS compliance, making sure stations log system tests and have special tuners to send audio and text alerts to audiences in emergencies, said Tex. Assn. of Bcstrs. Exec. Dir. Ann Arnold. State agencies and federal agencies other than the FCC need to know how they can use EAS, said Arnold, Tex. emergency communications committee chmn.: “The biggest problem with EAS is while the FCC required most of the broadcasters and many cable operators to install the equipment, no one ever told the rest of the government it was there.”
It’s been a decade since the FCC stressed EAS, said Jim Gabbert, of Cal.’s emergency communications committee. “Their enforcement is to check receivers and to check equipment,” he said: “They washed their hands of everything else in the ‘90s.” A problem cited by Arnold and Gabbert is the role of state emergency committee chmn.. Those holding these unpaid positions have no one to resign to at the FCC, which once made such appointments. “The problem was, after we were all appointed… the FCC wasn’t sure they had the legal authority,” Arnold said: “I'm not sure who we resign to now.”
EAS gear that may see limited use isn’t cheap. It can cost TV stations $10,000 for special tuners to monitor a radio station designated to carry alerts to be broadcast in an area in emergencies, estimated Arnold. Similar gear for radio stations starts at $4,000, she said. A Suddenlink spokesman said for a tuner installed in each cable headend that firm pays $6,000-$8,000, a figure with which officials at another large cable operator agreed.
Some cable cost-cutting plans haven’t worked. Charter asked the FCC to let it send emergency alerts by satellite to 39 systems with less than 1,000 subscribers each, said Saconna Blair, vp-technical operations. That plan was rejected in last week’s slew of waivers, he said. “Although we expect companies to come into prompt compliance if a waiver extension is denied, compliance issues are ultimately addressed on a case-by-case basis,” said an Enforcement Bureau spokeswoman.
Charter hopes to cut costs by pooling orders for tuners, Blair said, adding the FCC hasn’t given him a deadline to install the gear. “We are moving as quickly as we can to put together the purchase orders for the material,” he said: “We may not necessarily agree with what was the outcome of that, but we're going to comply.”