FCC commissioners indicated support for potentially imposing reporting requirements on carriers, as they approved a Further NPRM seeking comment on improving wireless emergency alerts 4-0 Thursday. CTIA has already expressed concerns over mandates in what has been a voluntary program (see 2204140046). The FCC also released a public notice on partnerships with local emergency agencies to gather data on how WEA is performing at the local level.
Tests of GeoBroadcast Solutions geotargeted radio technology show it works in a variety of environments, said National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters President Jim Winston and Roberts Radio CEO Steve Roberts in meetings last week with FCC Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer and aides to both Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 20-401. The agency opened up a new round of comments in the proceeding Monday. A report on the tests from broadcast engineers Roberson and Associates said the geotargeted broadcasts were narrowly targeted even in terrain without many impediments to signal propagation. The additional tests were performed on the technology in response to questions from the Media Bureau, the filing said. The tests also showed the tech doesn’t affect emergency alert system broadcasts, the filing said. “Giving broadcasters who wish to the ability to deploy geo-targeting technology can give minority and smaller broadcasters a new tool with which to compete,” the filing said. NAB, iHeartMedia, and other companies opposed the GBS proposal (see 2204070055).
The FCC should focus efforts to improve the emergency alert system on the internet-based common alerting protocol (CAP) system rather than the legacy daisy chain EAS, said broadcast alerting equipment manufacturers and cable groups in comments posted this week in docket 15-94. A notice of inquiry sought comments on possible improvements to the legacy system to make it more accessible and increase the amount of text in alerts.
Hybrid ATSC 3.0 streaming video service Evoca-TV and emergency alerting company Digital Alert Systems have developed a method for transmitting broadcast emergency alerts to viewers watching programming via the internet, said an Evoca news release Monday. “Because the Evocasolution is both an over-the-air and an over-the-top system, we’re able to deliver alerts directly to the viewer,” said Evoca’s Michael Chase, vice president-systems. Evoca’s receiver “can insert emergency alert information right on top of programming being watched by a viewer, regardless of what that channel happens to be,” the release said. The method is “a unique solution” that works because Evoca “controls both the transmission and reception of signals that reach the viewer,” for users of its service, the release said. The two companies are going to continue studying the matter, the release said.
An “entirely voluntary” system of “designated hitter” multilingual emergency alerts (see 2203100067) “is not sufficient” to ensure that communities receive multilingual alerts, the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council told FCC Public Safety Bureau and Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff in a virtual meeting Thursday, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-346. A hybrid approach that combines a voluntary system with a “regulatory backstop” that assigns a station to be responsible for multilingual alerts in markets without volunteers would be more effective, MMTC said. The FCC would need to require notice in markets with a volunteer, and the FCC could hold lotteries for the assignment in markets without one, MMTC said. The FCC could also issue advisory letters approving designated hitter plans, the filing said.
News directors and “broadcasters on the sidelines” need to get involved now in ATSC 3.0-enhanced emergency alerts to prevent a government mandate, John Lawson, executive director of the Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance, said on a webinar Tuesday hosted by Sinclair's One Media. That way, “even if someday the federal government steps in, at least it’ll be our idea,” Lawson said, comparing the possible future of advanced emergency information (AEI) to what happened with wireless emergency alerts. WEA rules have been “a long struggle” between industry and the government, and broadcasters need “a voluntary system,” Lawson said. He advocated for agreements between broadcasters and their local emergency managers to discuss the production and use of the more fulsome emergency information and media that could be utilized with 3.0. Recent FCC rulemakings and the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement Act “revitalized” state emergency communications committees but not too much of the discussion is focused on older emergency information systems rather than the newer tech, Lawson said. The FCC has open proceedings on making the legacy emergency alert system more accessible and improving it (see 2112140062). Pete Sockett, Capitol Broadcasting director-engineering and operations, said there’s a great deal of misunderstanding about the difference between the EAS and the supplemental, more detailed emergency information that's the focus of discussions about AEI.
Alerting companies, consumer groups and industry trade groups broadly support the FCC’s proposed rule changes to make emergency alert messages more accessible but are concerned about the timeline for implementation, possible alerting delays, and how the changes might affect alerts that use the legacy EAS system rather than the internet-based common alerting protocol, said comments posted by Friday’s deadline in docket 15-94. “The deaf and hard of hearing community faces significant problems receiving complete and timely communications warning of emergencies,” said a joint filing from user groups including the Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and the National Association of the Deaf.
The FCC is considering creating a voluntary “designated hitter” plan to provide multilingual emergency information during disasters, said broadcast and emergency alerting officials. Under such plans long touted by the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, English-language stations in a market would use their broadcast to host foreign language emergency information translated by local foreign language stations if those stations have been knocked off the air. Broadcasters argued that such proposals are impractical and unlikely to work, but in an ex parte letter filed Thursday MMTC said the system is the only choice. “After almost two decades of consideration, no one has offered a better alternative,” said MMTC President Robert Branson.
Some 42 markets have access to ATSC 3.0 broadcasts, under 10% of the viewing public in the U.S., and just 3 million 3.0-capable TVs were shipped in the U.S. last year, said Digital Tech Consulting President Myra Moore, moderator on a Streaming Media Connect panel last week.
Comments on the FCC’s NPRM on improving the accessibility of visual emergency alert system messages (see 2112060057) are due March 11, replies March 28, says Wednesday’s Federal Register. Comments on the accompanying notice of inquiry on broader efforts to make EAS more accessible are due April 11, replies May 10.