FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told fellow commissioners in an official communication that the agency won’t vote at the Dec. 18 agenda meeting on rules for emergency alert system warnings to cellphones and other wireless devices. Martin hopes for a vote before the meeting, though some fellow commissioners still are studying concerns raised by wireless carriers, sources said Tuesday.
Participants in FCC-brokered talks on multilingual emergency alerts said they're optimistic a compromise can be reached between broadcasters and minority advocates on how radio and TV stations can inform foreign-language speakers of storms and other large-scale emergencies. The sides have been talking most of the time since commissioners voted May 31 to defer action on rules for how broadcasters should handle multilingual alerts, said Minority and Media Telecommunications Council (MMTC) Executive Director David Honig. In approving an order setting emergency alert rules for pay-TV providers, commissioners gave activists and industry time to work out an agreement on how English- language broadcasters should handle alerts when Spanish- language stations are knocked off the air during storms (CD Aug 16 p5).
Sending emergency text alerts to cellphone users poses significant challenges, panelists said last week during a panel discussion at the VON conference in Boston. Many consumers don’t know how to sign up for alerts, and those who do may experience “alert fatigue” and ignore them, they said, but new technologies and policies could change things for the better. “The roadmap going forward, while cloudy, looks very promising,” said Joe Walsh, SquareLoop chief operating officer.
Members of the FCC’s Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee clashed Wednesday on whether their final report specifically should state that carriers may pass on to consumers some costs tied to sending alerts to cellphones, including handset upgrades. The provision passed after sharp debate. The committee, mandated by the Warn Act, approved a final report on broadcast of emergency alerts to cellphones. The report goes to the FCC, which is to issue a rulemaking seeking further comment.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Wednesday that emergency alerts on cellphones should target smaller areas than just counties. Martin briefly attended a meeting of the Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee and urged the group to give that issue special attention as it prepares to vote on a final report to the commission.
Cellphone manufacturers are increasingly being asked to pack more features into smaller handsets, and regulators must keep in mind the technical issues raised by the orders they hand down, Steve Sharkey, director of spectrum and standards strategy at Motorola said Tuesday at the Washington spectrum management conference sponsored by Law Seminars International.
The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau upheld a $12,000 fine against Delta Radio for Emergency Alert System deficiencies and other violations at its WROX-AM station in Greenville, Miss. The bureau didn’t accept Delta’s argument that the stations’ rule violations weren’t “willful” just because the station owner moved away from Mississippi and the employees he relied on to run the station never told him the EAS equipment hadn’t been installed.
The FCC imposed $43,600 total fines on 9 radio stations and a TV broadcaster. KLEA(FM) and KLEA(AM) Lovington, N.M., and KRCQ(FM) Detroit Lakes, Minn., were fined $14,000 total for missing deadlines to request license renewals and operating without FCC permission, in Media Bureau notices of apparent liability. The bureau renewed their licenses. Fined in Enforcement Bureau forfeiture orders were Class A TV station K43FO Las Vegas; KODL(AM) The Dalles, Ore.; KIGS(AM) Hanford, Cal.; the former licensee of KICA(AM) and KKYC(FM), both serving Clovis, N.M.; WNVA Norton, Va.; and the former operator of KEVT(AM) Cortaro, Ariz. Those stations failed to test emergency alert systems, operated in unauthorized locations and broke other FCC rules, but the Enforcement Bureau cut some of the original penalties.
Wireless carriers may take their case to Congress if the FCC mandates that within a year they must meet E-911 location accuracy standards at the public safety answering point (PSAP) level, carrier sources said. But the order is a work in progress. Some commissioners fear no carriers can meet that deadline and that the order would be challenged in court. Carriers are in a holding pattern on a Hill strategy until the FCC acts, most likely at its Sept. 11 meeting.
The FCC set Sept. 19 for the next meeting of the Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee in the commission meeting room. The group hopes to circulate a final report on Emergency Alert System warnings on cellphones in September, with approval expected before Oct. 12.