Broadcasters and the FCC can work together better “to inform and protect the public” during emergencies, said an NAB filing last week. It reported on a meeting between industry officials and James Barnett, the Public Safety Bureau chief. A commission proceeding on national emergency-alert-system tests also was discussed.
Comments on changing FCC emergency alert system rules in light of common alerting protocol’s introduction and the integrated public alert and warning system deployed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency are due May 17, with replies due June 14, said a Federal Register notice.
The FCC is moving fast on the public safety network and quick actions in areas like interoperability and the emergency communications system are expected, Public Safety Bureau officials said during an FCBA lunch Friday. The agency is also seeking to increase its involvement with cybersecurity and critical infrastructure survivability where it doesn’t have much of a track record, they said.
A Public Safety Bureau public notice seeks comment concerning changes in Part 11 rules that adopting the Common Alerting Protocol may require. The rules mandate state and local Emergency Alert System (EAS) testing. Filers should note any changes or additions “that could advance or facilitate introduction of a CAP-based Next Generation EAS architecture,” the bureau said. Comments must be filed by May 17, replies June 14.
The FCC fined Almega Cable $38,000 for emergency alert system and other violations in Texas. The company failed to install working EAS equipment, notify the Federal Aviation Administration immediately of a lighting outage, or show all red obstruction lighting at an antenna in Bloomington, where it has a cable system, and Yorktown, where it used to have one, said Enforcement Bureau orders released Friday.
Stations should get 90 days’ or four months’ notice of nationwide emergency alert system tests, which shouldn’t take place more than yearly, the NAB said last week in reply comments to the FCC. “The additional time will allow radio and television stations to better plan and notify their audiences of the coming EAS exercise, and coordinate the national test with their regularly scheduled weekly and monthly EAS tests.” The association agreed with a proposal that monthly tests not be done the month of the national test. Monthly EAS tests aren’t done at the same time in all markets. Not all commenters agree about all specifics in a rulemaking notice on the subject, the Named State Broadcasters Associations said, but “despite any disagreements, the parties to this proceeding all desire that the process will continue to move forward."
California’s government will do a pilot this year with Sprint Nextel of a system to send emergency warnings and alerts to mobile phones within range of particular cell towers, said Matthew Bettenhausen, secretary of the state’s Emergency Management Agency. The idea is to reach out-of-town visitors and others on the move, he said Friday. “That technology is out there but has not been implemented,” Bettenhausen said at Carnegie Mellon University’s Disaster Management Initiative Workshop in Silicon Valley. Emergency-notification systems that use telecom remain oriented toward landlines, he said. For incoming calls, “we have spent a lot of money making 911 ubiquitous, and I don’t think we should change that,” Bettenhausen said. The system’s being able to accept text messages would offer benefits, especially to people with disabilities, he said. But texts may not reach dispatchers as quickly as voice calls.
The Department of Homeland Security approved the Joint ATIS/TIA Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) Federal Alert Gateway to CMSP Gateway Interface Specification as a national standard, said the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions and the Telecommunications Industry Association. When fully adopted by communications service providers, the specification will provide anyone with a CMAS-capable mobile device an additional way to receive alerts during natural disasters and other emergencies. The specification will benefit end users by allowing widespread use of 90 character text message emergency alerts and warnings of imminent threats to life and property, Amber Alerts and presidential emergency messages, they said.
Broadcasters and cable operators supported a national annual emergency alert system test, in comments to the FCC last week. The national test should only be once a year, a group of state broadcast associations said. In the month the national test occurs, system participants shouldn’t have to also perform a regional test, NCTA said.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau introduced a Web page called “Broadband and Public Safety and Homeland Security,” http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/broadband.html, about the commission’s efforts to carry out National Broadband Plan recommendations on behalf of emergency agencies. “The implementation of the plan will include initiatives to bring interoperable communications to America’s first responders through the creation of a nationwide wireless broadband network and new cyber security reporting and monitoring programs; as well as Next Generation 9-1-1 services; emergency alerts and warnings through a variety of outlets (including via television and radio broadcasts (Emergency Alert System), wireless hand-held devices, (such as cell phones and the Internet) and much more,” the bureau said. “The web page includes access to the latest press releases, public notices, field hearings, and presentations.”