A government standard for emergency alerts could be working by Q1 of 2011, since the Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to finalize the Common Alerting Protocol this quarter (CD May 19 p5), FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker said Monday. But “clearly, probably, likely, there will be extensions,” she said at the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council conference. It has been several years, “a long time,” since the council and others sought implementation of a multilingual emergency alert system, so “I understand your frustration” about the slow progress, Baker said. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said she’s “excited” for the FCC to work with FEMA on alerts in languages other than English. Commissioner Robert McDowell said he would “be delighted to tee up in a further notice the question of what can we do with multilingual alerts."

U.S. telecom companies’ internal disaster and emergency response operations, preparedness and timely response are critical in recovery efforts in Haiti, companies said on a roundtable at the Department of State Friday. The Haiti earthquake, a major test for emergency response capabilities, underlined the need for better coordination, they said.

Public safety and emergency experts emphasized the need for more clarity, accuracy and relevance in emergency alert procedures and systems, they said at the FCC and Federal Emergency Management Agency’s 21st Century emergency alerting workshop Thursday, citing lessons learned from an emergency alert system test in Alaska in January. The FCC should extend the deadline for installing updated Emergency Alert System (EAS) gear and the federal government should fund more training to use it, some said.

The FCC is already getting its first comments on the future of the 1675-1710 MHz band, which could in part be used for mobile broadband under a proposal being examined by the FCC and NTIA. The Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment last week, with a due date of June 28 (CD June 7 p6). ProAlert.us, which supplies weather alerts to customers from emergency managers to first responders, expressed “serious” concerns. “ProAlert.us makes use of the Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN), a system of satellites and uplinks that provide vital weather related information” the company said in a filing. “This information is used widely within Federal, State and local entities as a means to help protect the citizens of this country.” Colorado State University’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere also advised the FCC to proceed with care. “Public use of this frequency range presents a potential conflict to this multi-million dollar infrastructure,” the institute said. “CIRA alone has well over two million dollars invested in its Earthstation, including two decades of customized software development.” The Harris County Appraisal District asked the FCC to protect the Emergency Weather Information Network system it operates serving southeast Texas. “The investment in the Houston EMWIN system is significant, and interference from other users of the spectrum on or around 1692.7 MHz would render the Houston EMWIN system inoperable, thus depriving one of America’s largest metropolitan areas of a proven and valuable emergency weather warning and information service.” So far, five parties have filed comments.

The FCC should limit broadcasters’ reporting duties in proposed testing rules (CD May 19 p5) for the national emergency alert system (EAS), an owner of radio stations said in a filing Tuesday in docket 04-296. “While EMF understands the need for nationwide testing of the EAS system, it does not support the Commission’s proposed reporting requirements” because thousands of broadcasters would “deluge” the FCC with reports of successful tests, said the owner, the Educational Media Foundation. The commission should “limit the scope of the reporting requirement to a small ’sampling’ of stations, and it should provide for electronic filing of data,” the foundation said. “Current logging requirements are sufficient.”

The FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Continuity Programs updated the agenda http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-298651A1.pdf for a workshop on 21st Century Emergency Alerting: Leveraging Multiple Technologies to Bring Alerts and Warnings to the Public, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at the FCC. The event will deal with the status of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, including the Next Generation Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Commercial Mobile Alert System. The public meeting also will allow the agencies and their federal partners to gather feedback on issues related to these systems, the upcoming National EAS test and the FCC’s coming proceeding on next-generation alerting.

Broadcast and cable groups were among those seeking more time to get ready for a new technology that can geographically target emergency alerts across broadcasters, subscription-video providers and wireless services. Comments to the FCC from the NAB, the NCTA and Monroe Electronics, a maker of emergency alert system (EAS) gear, seek longer than the maximum of 180 days that the commission gives EAS participants to configure their networks to accept alerts based the Common Alerting Protocol after the technical standards are published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA has said the alerts may be adopted by the third quarter, the NCTA noted. FEMA has lagged in coming up with the standards. It had hoped to come up with guidelines for them in 2008 (CD May 30/07 p2).

An April 28 Amber Alert in New Jersey had a technical problem “which in turn cascaded into a procedural error,” causing unintended activation of some emergency systems, the state’s broadcaster group said Friday. Equipment associated with the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management emergency alert takeover system, which uses the state’s 800 MHz trunked radio system, has been adjusted, the New Jersey Broadcasters Association said in its weekly member update. “While there is still much more that needs to be done, the NJBA commends the quick response and hard work of these dedicated state officials and law enforcement in addressing this particular problem” with emergency alerts.

The FCC should focus on reducing media consolidation and “move quickly” on its media ownership review, representatives of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights wrote Chairman Julius Genachowski last week. The group, representing almost 200 organizations, hopes the FCC will analyze data on radio and TV station ownership collected via Form 323 quickly after the information is received and make it publicly available, wrote President Wade Henderson and Executive Vice President Nancy Zirkin. Also, they wrote, “we strongly urge you to ensure that the upcoming review of the emergency alert system includes a mechanism to offer alerts to people who do not speak English."

HOT SPRINGS, Va. -- The FCC has a huge agenda from the National Broadband Plan to work through, but the commission has every intention of completing the work assigned, top officials said at the FCBA conference over the weekend.