All of Trinity’s TV stations are seeking FCC permission to temporarily stop broadcasting when an emergency alert system (EAS) bulletin is triggered. The request for a Commission letter of EAS nonparticipation covers about 28 stations licensed to the religious broadcaster, said Colby May, a lawyer representing Trinity. The stations, which lack a nightly local news broadcast, will instead broadcast “banners” directing viewers to a rival in the same market to get information during emergencies, Colby told us. Several other stations -- including 2 owned by National Minority TV and one licensed to Jacksonville (Fla.) Educators Broadcasting -- requested a similar exemption.
The FCC extended national warning system rules to digital broadcast and cable TV, digital audio broadcasting, satellite radio, and DBS -- previously not subject to Emergency Alert System (EAS) controls. All 4 commissioners called the move the first step of many in an EAS reform that will account for new technology and language diversity. A Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on several topics, such as integration of wireless technologies and telco fiber-to- the-home into the alert system, accompanied the Thurs. order.
The FCC added the EAS item dropped Mon. to the Thurs. meeting agenda, as expected. Review of the Emergency Alert System (EB 04-296) will take the form of a First Report and Order and a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the Emergency Alert System rules. FCC sources have said the Commission likely will extend EAS rules to satellite radio and DBS (CD Oct 25 p2).
The 2 items pulled from Mon.’s FCC meeting will be taken up separately in the coming weeks, sources said. An item on SHVERA about popular channels viewed on satellite is likely to be voted on by circulation, said people familiar with the issue. The extension of emergency alert systems (EAS) to digital broadcasts is expected to be taken up at the Commission’s Thurs. meeting, sources said.
The FCC is set to expand emergency alert system (EAS) requirements to include satellite radio and other digital platforms as the Commission prepares to seek comment on its role in enabling such alerts on new technologies, sources said. The Commission said late Fri. that this week’s meeting will include consideration of EAS rules, as had been expected (CD Oct 17 p11). The FCC document wasn’t more specific, as is typical in so-called Sunshine notices.
The FCC issued a total of $34,000 in fines against 3 broadcasters for various violations. Russell Sims was fined $17,000 for operating a citizens band radio station without Commission authorization. Maria Salazar, licensee of KTCM(FM), Kingman, Kan., was fined $10,000 for failing to maintain an operational emergency alert system and failing to have a complete public inspection file. Clamor Bcstg. Network, licensee of noncommercial educational station WJVP(FM), Culebra, Puerto Rico, was fined $7,000 for failure to maintain the station’s studio within the community of license.
The Senate Commerce Committee Thurs. voted 19-3 to report out a DTV bill that includes $3 billion in converter box subsidies and $1.2 billion for an emergency communications program. The bill, which fulfills the committee’s budgetary responsibility to raise $4.8 billion, goes to the Senate Budget Committee, where it will be included in an overall reconciliation bill scheduled for markup Oct. 26.
The FCC has authority to require multilingual emergency alert system (EAS) announcements, said the Minority Media & Telecom Council (MMTC), Independent Spanish Bcstrs. Assn. and other groups. The Commission can opt only to approve local and state govt. EAS proposals that “reasonably provide for widespread multilingual communications” in disasters, MMTC said in a FCC filing released Tues. While multilingual EAS broadcasts are a “laudable” goal, NAB said in a response filed last week, “statutory and practical questions” remain. NAB questioned whether the FCC, rather than FEMA, has authority to require multilingual emergency broadcasts. While raising practical questions about which Spanish-language station alerts would have to be re- broadcast, the group had no immediate comment on MMTC’s filing. The EAS issue is “non-controversial,” MMTC Exec. Dir David Honig claimed. “The NAB didn’t say that this was unimportant… or that the commission doesn’t have jurisdiction,” he told us. “We think we've made a very strong case that the Commission should step up and address this right now.” Still, there’s no indication such action is forthcoming. More than 150,000 Spanish-speakers in the New Orleans area were without a source of information in their language during Hurricane Katrina (CD Sept 21 p5). “The Commission has both the jurisdiction and the moral authority” to require multilingual EAS, MMTC said.
The FCC at its Oct. 28 meeting is expected to seek comment on the role of wireless technology and services in a redundant multiplatform emergency alert system (EAS). The NPRM, not expected to make any preliminary conclusions, will ask “an open-ended question,” an FCC source said. It will be attached to an EAS order, not expected to address any wireless issues.
The FCC should consider paging services as it develops a redundant multiplatform emergency alert system (EAS), USA Mobility told the agency. As the FCC readies a further NPRM, it should recall that “paging networks offer distinct features which lead to broad geographic coverage, high reliability and low cost,” the firm said. After Hurricane Katrina, one-way paging and 2-way text messaging were “among the most reliable methods of electronic communication available,” said Mobile USA. The storm interrupted operations at 291 of the firm’s towers along the Gulf Coast, bu USA Mobile restored ground-level service throughout most of the area within 48 hours, enabling first responders to “communicate when other wireline and wireless networks were not functioning,” the firm said. USA Mobile said its system’s design ensures operation in crisis because: (1) Its narrowband PCS network simulcasts messages from multiple towers, easing the impact of a service interruption at one location. (2) The one-way paging network relies on satellite communications to backhaul traffic to each tower, and the 2-way paging network relies on satellite to backhaul traffic to and from each tower. This leaves paging services far less dependent on wireline infrastructure than most cellular services. (3) Paging antennas are located far higher on towers than cellular ones, so paging signals travel farther. (4) The paging network operates at higher power than cellular, enabling wider coverage and deeper penetration into buildings. “The comparatively low prices of one-way and 2-way paging devices and monthly service plans enable federal, state and local government agencies facing budget pressures to equip emergency officials with reliable communications tools,” USA Mobile said: “The long backup battery power associated with paging services also makes them an important and reliable tool for first responders.” Meanwhile, the Rural Cellular Assn. (RCA) warned the FCC of short messaging service and cell broadcast technology’s capacity limitations. The RCA urged study of integration into cellular handsets of a supplemental reception capability so subscribers opting into the service can receive messages broadcast on the national weather alert radio network. Messages important to all would be received by all, RCA said. Local messages would be received from the National Weather Service (NWS) station closest to the cellphone user, it said: “Such a delivery system would be most effective if the wireless network would dynamically program the Specific Area Message Encoding code that corresponds to the area being sent an alert by a local national weather station into the supplemental NWS receiver in the handset as that handset moves from cell to cell.”