FCC Gives Stations, Minority Advocates 6 Months on EAS Deal
The FCC hopes broadcasters and minority groups soon agree on how to alert non-English speakers to disasters, storms and the like using stations’ emergency alert systems (EASs). In six months, the FCC will issue a rulemaking on the matter, it said Thursday in an order voted on at its May meeting (CD June 1 p6). At the gathering, commissioners held off voting on a Minority Media & Telecom Council petition on Spanish-language EAS alerts to give the group and broadcasters time to compromise. The Council and other advocates wanted stations to translate warnings into Spanish and other tongues when a foreign-language station in a market is knocked off the air. Broadcasters want to get translations from authorities.
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The FCC requested public input on EAS issues including the Council’s proposal that local officials designate stations to relay emergency alerts in other languages in each area with a “substantial” number of non-English speakers. The agency asked what “substantial” means. “We therefore seek comment on how non-English speakers may best be served by national, state and local EAS,” it said.
The order touted Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) as an efficient way to send EAS messages to people with disabilities or not fluent in English. CAP uses automated systems to send a single warning message to multiple TV stations, cable systems and wireless devices. The FCC told industry to hold off using CAP programs until FEMA completes testing. The Council claims CAP is not the best way to send emergency alerts, since nuances and facts may be lost when computers translate messages. The protocol “may not be a complete answer” and “is not a comprehensive solution for making general emergency and public safety information available to non-English speakers,” the notice said.
The commission wants comments on how broadcasters and pay-TV providers should deliver alerts to the disabled. “We welcome comments on the technical, economic, practical and legal issues, including the Commission’s authority, involved in making emergency information accessible to persons with disabilities,” the FCC said. The notice asked how to present audio feeds in text format and vice versa; how to send alerts to devices used by people with disabilities; and how to send EAS messages “in multiple formats.” Comments are due 30 days after the notice appears in the Federal Register, replies 15 days later. The notice likely will be published within weeks, said an FCC official.
The order authorized governors to trigger emergency alerts, as commissioners voted May 31. Broadcast and cable officials had termed the action largely symbolic, since they already send audiences state warnings. The FCC now wants to know whether it to expand EAS-triggering authority. “We seek comment on whether EAS participants should be required to receive and transmit alerts initiated by government entities” other than the governor, the FCC said. “Should local, county, tribal or other state governmental entities be allowed to initiate mandatory state and local alerts?” - Jonathan Make