Industry Groups Call Streaming EAS Infeasible, Duplicative

Nearly every industry commenter said it would be extremely difficult for streaming companies to receive EAS information and send targeted information to customers. Streaming content providers don’t control systems over which their content is transmitted, and don’t know their end users' location, said MPA. Audio streamers “do not collect granular location data and, therefore, would not be able to accurately target emergency messages to the relevant recipients,” said the Digital Media Association. Streaming services don’t “typically incorporate or even contemplate any localized infrastructure that would enable a streaming service to monitor for EAS alerts based on either geography or the type of event,” said NAB.

The New York City Emergency Management Department disagreed. “The capability for streaming services to monitor for EAS alerts based on geographic region is not only possible, but already exists,” said NYCEM. Pandora offers advertisements targeted based on ZIP codes, and Hulu touts geotargeted ads, NYCEM said. “As this capability already exists for advertising, altering it to support emergency messaging should be straightforward with limited cost.” The higher bandwidth of streaming services could be used to convey more detailed information to the public, leading them to act more quickly in the face of an emergency, said the National Weather Service. “The use of streaming services for emergency alert information will expand message dissemination, particularly to younger audiences.”

“Streaming services are, in this context, far more similar to individual broadcast networks, cable channels, and other content providers whose offerings are delivered over the infrastructure operated by the current EAS Participants,” said MPA. Widespread use of VPNs to obscure user location data would add a wrinkle to entities seeking to geotarget streaming EAS alerts, CTA said.

AT&T, Incompas, MPA and others said alerts sent over streaming services are likely to duplicate wireless emergency alerts sent to users’ mobile devices -- possibly the same device being used to view streaming content. “Additional alerting over streaming services may be duplicative and cause consumer confusion or dissatisfaction,” said AT&T. “It is unclear that additional alerting mechanisms are necessary or even desirable.” Nearly every U.S. consumer “has a mobile wireless device and receives alerts through the wireless emergency alert (WEA) system on their device that are timely, effective, and appropriately geographically targeted,” said Incompas.

Not all streaming is done by “the big boys,” said REC Networks and the Riverton Radio Project Association. “Participation of streaming providers of any size and discipline should be strictly voluntary and should never be made a mandate, especially given the reach of already mandated alerting methods (EAS and WEA).”

​​​​​​​CTA said the FCC definition of a streaming service is overbroad, and a more narrow one would face fewer technical hurdles for incorporating EAS. The definition in the NOI would include disparate services such as Twitch, NFL Game Pass and Peloton, said MPA. Meanwhile, NYCEM said the definition should be broadened. Comments posted through Monday in docket 15-94.

Cumulus and iHeart were among those that said lack of jurisdiction over streaming services would prevent the FCC from enforcing EAS rules on them. “If such a venue handles emergency alerts improperly, what avenue does the Commission have to enforce corrective action?” asked the radio groups. Many streaming services are based outside the U.S. or use hardware and services they don’t directly control, NAB said. “It is unclear how a domestic or foreign-based streaming service could receive and then geographically-target locally-generated alert messages in a timely manner,” said iHeart and Cumulus. “The FCC lacks authority to promulgate rules over Edge Providers to bring them into that system,” said TechFreedom.