The wireless industry is watching with concern FCC moves to create a new Homeland Security Bureau, speakers said at a FCBA lunch in Washington. As the FCC prepares a further NPRM on whether to make wireless part of the more robust, multi-modal alert system, speakers warned that the industry doesn’t need another mandate. “To the extent that there is a consumer demand, you are going to see us all responding,” Verizon Wireless Deputy Gen. Counsel John Scott said: “Regulations would restrain carriers from moving ahead.”
Satellite radio licensees should comply with FCC Emergency Alert System (EAS) rules, 21 House lawmakers, including Majority Whip Blunt (R-Mo.), said in a letter to FCC Chmn. Martin and Comrs. Abernathy, Copps and Adelstein. As the FCC considers its order to modify EAS rules, it should require satellite radio providers to comply with EAS rules that apply to terrestrial radio, TV broadcast and cable systems, the letter said. The FCC should require satellite radio to participate in national EAS just as it required VoIP services to comply with E-911 obligations, it said.
The $10 billion in projected revenue from the DTV spectrum auction should be used for emergency communications and subsidies to help consumers buy converter boxes for analog TVs that will become obsolete after the digital transition, Senate Commerce Committee Chmn Stevens (R-Alaska) told broadcasters at an MSTV conference Wed. He asked broadcasters to help persuade Congress and committee members that the money should be dedicated to projects he outlined, not diverted to other “very important projects that are necessary in the disaster areas.”
At the next FCC agenda meeting (Oct. 12), commissioners may decide on SHVERA, defining a “significantly viewed audience,” FCC sources said. The other media item will be action on a rulemaking on how the Emergency Alert System applies in a DTV environment, sources said. Work related to the Gulf Coast hurricane recovery may delay the meeting (CD Sept 30 p10).
The FCC extended an emergency alert system (EAS) compliance deadline for small cable systems from Oct. 1 to March 1. Firms affected by the order include Galaxy Cable and Northland Communications.
Telcos and wireless providers said Fri. they were working to ensure viable communications if Hurricane Rita knocked out coastal Tex. operations centers. Verizon and SBC said they were collaborating with federal emergency management and had activated emergency operations centers. They had technicians ready to make repairs and had reinforced switching center offices with sandbags, plywood and other materials. Officials also were working closely with state and local agencies to coordinate emergency communications.
PHILADELPHIA -- Local radio broadcasters shouldn’t worry about competition from satellite radio, FCC Comrs. Adelstein and Abernathy said at the NAB Radio Show here. “There is a place for satellite radio, but I don’t think they will ever be able to replicate what local broadcasters do,” Abernathy said. “I think we have the right rules in place.”
The FCC should have more authority to handle coordination of emergency communications during disasters, Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) said Thurs. at a hearing. One key example would be to give the Commission power over credentialing employees to enter disaster areas -- a role now largely performed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Stevens said. “We want to have a plan in place to be able to get in touch with people,” Stevens said. FCC Chmn. Martin said the additional authority Stevens envisioned would be “good,” but said the Commission would still work with FEMA “since they are the ones on the ground.”
The FCC should require broadcasters to provide emergency announcements in multiple languages in markets that include large numbers of people whose main language isn’t English, the Minority Media & Telecom Council (MMTC) told the Commission in a petition. MMTC asked the FCC, in its emergency alert system rulemaking, to require vital information be made available to non-English people. After Hurricane Katrina and as Hurricane Rita nears Florida, this material should be available now, said MMTC Exec. Dir. David Honig.
XM is ready to “play a crucial role” in helping first responders in disasters, the company told FCC Chmn. Martin. In a Thurs. letter to Martin to be part of the record of an open FCC meeting in Atlanta, Senior Vp- Regulatory & Govt. Affairs William Bailey said XM easily can leverage existing infrastructure to fit disaster scenarios. XM satellite radio broadcasts can “provide a cost-effective, efficient, and truly interoperable means of communicating a common understanding of situational awareness to First Responders in a particular area,” Bailey wrote. Satellite telephony, data and radio services are playing a key role in relief work, filling gaps the storm tore in Gulf Coast terrestrial communication systems (CD Sept 9 p4). Bailey said in his letter that XM’s system, largely immune to earthbound calamity, has the capacity “to deliver a reliable, dedicated audio channel to emergency personnel and decision-makers across various levels of govt. and across multiple jurisdictions, using very small mobile receivers.” Last week, officials reported damage to XM terrestrial repeaters along the Gulf Coast. But, they said, XM’s satellite signal is strong enough that subscribers without repeaters can receive it (CD Sept 2 p5). XM’s 24-hour emergency alert channel continues to deliver key information from NOAA, HHS, DHS and FEMA, Bailey wrote. “Today, XM’s Channel 247 is providing similar emergency information of particular interest to residents of North Carolina and Virginia threatened by Hurricane Ophelia,” he said. Since Katrina, XM has launched a Red Cross Radio channel jointly with the American Red Cross, broadcasting information directly to Red Cross workers in the Gulf Coast and Houston. XM said it donated 200 radios to Red Cross workers.