Emergency alerting officials and broadcasters see more information-rich alerts and increased geotargeting as the biggest needs for improving alerting, looking to ATSC 3.0 as a solution, said speakers at the Advance Warning and Response Network’s virtual summit Tuesday. More authorities are including links and additional information in their alerts, and that’s information that can’t be “effectively delivered” using the current emergency alert system, said Wade Witmer, deputy director of the Federal Emergency Management Association's Integrated Public Alert Warning System. Last year, there was an almost 200% increase in use of wireless emergency alerts compared with 2019, and a 135% increase in EAS use, Witmer said.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau approved a waiver for the Mendocino County, California, Sheriff’s Office to test the wireless emergency alert system Wednesday, starting at noon PDT. “In light of the recent proclamation of a drought emergency in Mendocino and Sonoma counties, and the timing of this exercise on the verge of wildfire season, we find Mendocino residents and alert originators face a unique and urgent need to understand how alerts are transmitted and received,” said Friday's order.
California state legislators advance broadband bills, including to renew and revamp the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) with a goal of upgrading to at least 100 Mbps downstream. Bills to preempt local governments on wireless deployment are advancing this year, after former Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoed a 2017 attempt (see 1710170026).
Connectivity difficulties for households trying to apply online during the initial FCC emergency broadband benefit rollout could discourage people from returning to the website to try again, some working to encourage EBB enrollment said in interviews. Users reported initial delays (see 2105130063). The FCC posted an alert May 13, the day after the program began, warning online applicants they could have had connectivity issues in applying online. The alert cited high demand. The Universal Service Administrative Co. posted the same.
Using streaming services to disseminate emergency messages mightn't be feasible, isn’t necessary and is outside FCC jurisdiction, industry trade groups and companies commented on a notice of inquiry. The “broadcast-centric” emergency alert system architecture is “not readily transferable to the varied and location-agnostic nature of internet-connected devices and streaming services,” said CTA. “At best, implementing such a requirement would be extremely cumbersome, and invoke a long list of unknown consequences related to complexity, user privacy and cost,” said NAB.
A nationwide test of the emergency alert system will be Aug.11 at 2:20 p.m. EDT, said the Federal Emergency Management Agency in a letter to the FCC posted Tuesday in docket 15-94. The test will be originated using the legacy primary entry point system rather than the internet based common alerting protocol, a format similar to the last test, in 2019. “The public should be aware that full message text and multilingual messaging will not be available due to the over the air message delivery and relay used in this system of EAS message dissemination,” FEMA said. Along with the EAS test, FEMA will issue a wireless emergency alert test, “targeting only cell phones where the user has opted-in to receive WEA test messages.” The back-up date is Aug. 25.
Commenters in docket 15-94 on FCC-proposed changes to wireless emergency alerts, state emergency communications committees (SECCs) and false alert reporting rules largely supported the plans. Some raised concerns about alert fatigue, confidentiality and how future “presidential” alerts should be designated to avoid public backlash. Proposed rule changes in a unanimously approved March NPRM (see 2103170070) stem from the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which gives the FCC until June 30 to implement new rules.
The FCC unanimously approved two Public Safety Bureau items on outage reporting and the emergency alert system Wednesday, as expected (see 2103120057). Though the final versions haven’t been released, industry officials told us they don’t expect either the NPRM on wireless emergency alerts (WEAs) and state emergency alert plans nor the order on outage reporting to have undergone significant changes from their drafts. The FCC “needs to fundamentally refresh its playbook for disaster preparedness and resiliency,” said acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel at Wednesday’s meeting of commissioners.
FM broadcasters offering geotargeted content have every incentive to reduce self-interference and are required by the FCC to do so, said GeoBroadcast Solutions in replies posted Friday in docket 20-401. REC Networks replied earlier (see 2103100057). GBS, the primary proponent of such proposed changes to booster rules, resisted arguments this would lead to radio advertising “redlining.” All other media can geotarget ads, and those were an ATSC 3.0 selling point, GBS said. “Yet there was no mention of redlining in the hundreds and hundreds of pages of comments filed in that proceeding by the broadcast industry and its trade association.” The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters called for a pilot program to test the technology in three markets. They "recommend that the pilot be designed to address all of the questions raised in the comment round of this proceeding, including the impact of the technology on local advertising markets." The FCC simply can't "ignore the concerns of the radio industry,” said the New York State Broadcasters Association, opposing the rule change. “Objectionable interference is certain under the Geo proposal,” said broadcast engineer Alan Kirschner of Nashville. Ad agency Media Negotiator, Urban One DJ and restaurant owner Sam Sylks and Roberts Broadcasting supported the option to geotarget as helpful to radio and local businesses. GBS said it has “no plans” for such targeting of emergency alert system messages, though the company and proponents of the tech have touted targeted alerts (see 2006040024).
An NPRM on emergency alerting and an order on sharing outage report information with state and local agencies are expected to be approved with few changes at the FCC commissioners' meeting Wednesday, likely unanimously, according to industry officials.