The FCC fined the Hispanic-Multicultural Broadcasting Association $6,400 for lacking an emergency alert system decoder at its WJRN-LP Summerfield, Fla. station. The FCC Tampa office initially set an $8,000 fine.
Broadcasters should make a voluntary practice of carrying emergency alert system warnings in more languages than English when bad weather knocks out foreign-language stations in their markets, a proponent of that approach said Monday at the EAS Summit. Minority Media and Telecommunications Council Executive Director David Honig said he’s aware the industry is concerned the FCC may impose such a plan on broadcasters. “Hopefully that wouldn’t be necessary, but it would be up to you,” he told the conference in Washington, D.C., according to prepared remarks. “If broadcasters in a community arrive voluntarily at a reasonable [multilingual EAS plan], the FCC could certify it and the plan would take effect.” It’s been three years since 300,000 New Orleanians who speak Spanish and Vietnamese got little advance warning of Hurricane Katrina for lack of a multilingual alert plan, Honig said. “Six rounds of pleadings later, the FCC still doesn’t have a multilingual EAS program, and only one state broadcasting association -- Florida’s -- has come most of the way toward designating a modern” system. Participants in FCC-brokered talks on the alerts voice optimism of a deal being reached and reflected in an order the FCC plans to issue on the subject in the next few months (CD Nov 7 p4).
New Motorola technology lets Sprint Nextel push-to-talk users talk directly to a first responder who uses a Project 25 land mobile radio, Sprint Nextel said Tuesday. The Motobridge gateway creates interoperability for disparate networks using different bands, system types or vendors, Sprint said. It can be scaled to support “numerous agencies, users and dispatch locations” and supports group calls, emergency alerts and other Nextel features, the carrier said.
The FCC should publish a Spanish-language version of its Emergency Alert System handbook, recently released in English, Minority Media and Telecommunications Council Executive Director David Honig wrote in a Jan. 31 letter to Public Safety Bureau Chief Derek Poarch. “Many broadcast employees who could happen to be on duty during an emergency are not fluent in English,” he said. “Without a Spanish language version of the Handbook, a portion of our population is left vulnerable.”
The FCC fined the owner of WAKJ(FM) DeFuniak Springs, Fla., $2,000 for not installing required emergency alert system gear and for not having full-time employees at its main studio during business hours, said an Enforcement Bureau forfeiture order released Wednesday. The First Baptist Church owns the noncommercial station.
New ad technology that sends videos from billboards to cellphones using Bluetooth is attracting advertisers struggling to reach consumers with traditional media, outdoor advertising officials said in interviews. Quikker, the technology’s main manufacturer, has partnerships with Clear Channel and other major advertisers and expects the interactive ads to become common in major cities this year. The way ads are sent raises spam and privacy fears, but the concerns won’t arise if consumers can’t figure out how to set up Bluetooth, analysts said.
The FCC levied $20,000 in broadcast-related fines against two companies, according to Enforcement Bureau forfeiture orders released Wednesday. International Broadcasting was fined $13,000 for not painting an antenna in Canovanas, P.R., and for not telling the agency of a change in the structure’s ownership. West Helena Broadcasters must pay $7,000 for lacking an operational emergency alert system at KCLT(FM) West Helena, Ark., and being unable to find a copy of its public inspection file when an FCC agent visited the station.
GENEVA -- Better direction is needed from content owners as the ATIS digital rights management task force broadens its IPTV work to security in general. A security layer in IPTV is not seen in other video delivery systems, said ATIS IPTV Interoperability Forum Chairman Dan O'Callaghan of Verizon.
The FCC should make AT&T disclose its emergency alert system limitations to TV subscribers as a condition of granting the company’s request for extra time to follow EAS rules, said a lobbying group for city officials. AT&T wants a waiver through July to meet FCC requirements that cable, phone and other terrestrial pay-TV providers pass along several types of emergency messages. The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors said in a Dec. 17 FCC filing it opposes the request. If AT&T gets the extension, it should be required to give the FCC progress reports on its efforts to comply with EAS rules, the group said. “The current inability of AT&T’s video service to provide EAS communications is a public safety issue and subscribers should be fully aware.” AT&T had told the FCC that it’s “strongly committed” to carrying emergency alerts on its U-Verse IPTV service.
The FCC will consider whether to require that carriers refusing to give customers emergency alert system warnings post warnings to that effect in their stores and on their sites, said a notice of proposed rulemaking released late Friday. The FCC may set tougher rules than the Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee recommended in other areas as well, the document indicated.