The FCC should create a separate wireless emergency alert classification for Blue Alerts, said DOJ’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) in a letter to the FCC posted in docket 15-94 Monday. The FCC order that created the BLU Blue Alert emergency alert system code authorized temporary use of the existing “imminent threat” classification to allow Blue Alerts to be disseminated through the WEA system (see 1712140045), but the COPS Office now wants a dedicated classification for WEAs as well. A separate classification “would further enhance the promulgation of succinct guidance and allow for additional safeguards to ensure that Blue Alerts are issued in an effective and consistent manner,” the letter said. “The WEA Imminent Threat classification is more of a ‘one size fits all’ tool whose usage is subject to broader interpretation.” A separate classification would minimize improper use of the alerts, it said.
Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, plans an April 5 field hearing in Honolulu on the January false alarm about a possible ballistic missile headed for that state (see 1801160054), as expected (see 1801170050). The hearing will focus on the failure of Hawaii’s state emergency alert system during the incident, the Senate Commerce Committee said. “This hearing is about moving forward and fixing the emergency alert system,” Schatz said. “By bringing together state and federal officials, we can understand what happened, what resources are needed to make it right, and how we can improve.” FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, U.S. Pacific Command leader Adm. Harry Harris and Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Arthur Logan are among those set to testify. FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Lisa Fowlkes, Federal Emergency Management Agency Continuity Communications Division Director Antwane Johnson and Hawaii Association of Broadcasters President Chris Leonard will also testify. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. at the East-West Center’s Keoni Auditorium. The FCC determined the false missile warning stemmed from a lack of safeguards and human error, including a now-fired HEMA employee who confused drills with alerts (see 1801300053). Schatz later filed the Senate version of the Authenticating Local Emergencies and Real Threats (Alert) Act (HR-4965/S-2385), which would give the federal government sole authority to issue missile threat alerts and pre-empt state and local governments' role in issuing such warnings (see 1802070052). Senate Commerce and the House Homeland Security Committee have held hearings on the incident (see 1801240046, 1801250061, 1802050046 and 1802060055). The House Communications Subcommittee is also expected at least to partially focus on the issue when it holds its next FCC oversight hearing, after postponing a planned February hearing (see 1802050025). House Commerce Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., told us the committee has a future FCC hearing “on the books.”
With a lack of electricity and access to funding hampering recovery efforts for communications services in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, some concerns about the FCC USF-based aid proposal have emerged, industry and government officials in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Washington told us. Some industry officials expressed concern about the proposal's goals and said the plan does nothing for affected broadcasters. A group of Puerto Rico broadcasters pitched a nationwide disaster relief plan for broadcasters to Chairman Ajit Pai during his visit earlier this month. “What happened in Puerto Rico can happen elsewhere in the U.S.,” said Eduardo Rivero of Puerto Rico station owner Media Power Group.
New York City Emergency Management filed at the FCC a report it commissioned arguing for requiring the capacity to include transmission of photos and other media as part of wireless emergency alerts. The department said it submitted the report at the request of the FCC Public Safety Bureau. The report examines public reaction in the wake of the use of alerts as police searched for Ahmad Rahami, the suspect in the 2016 Chelsea bombing. The vast majority believed it was an "appropriate use of the system (89 percent appropriate) and less than 1 percent unsubscribed from the service following the alert,” the report said. “Although most could not correctly recall what time they received the message by the time our survey was conducted, over a quarter reported receiving the message between 7:30 and 8:30 am (27 percent).” Given limitations of WEAs, the city had to refer people to media reports for a photo of Rahami and 45 percent reported they took this step, the city said. “Those who didn’t said it was because they did not have time, were at work, or believed it was too much work to turn to the media for the picture. The survey shows broad support for updating these messages to include a direct link to view photos of the suspect, as 83 percent believe it would be useful to include such a link in wireless alerts.”
The “vast majority” of broadcasters are “nowhere close” to exhausting their initial allocation of repacking reimbursement funds, according to their expense filings, said Incentive Auction Task Force Chief Jean Kiddoo at Tuesday’s America’s Public Television Stations’ Public Media Summit. The timing of the agency’s release of a second allocation will be based on how quickly the first portion of funds is drawn down, Kiddoo said. “So far, we don’t see stations maxing out." Kiddoo said the IATF monitors the status of reimbursements “daily.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council’s petition for an en banc rehearing of its appeal of FCC actions on multilingual emergency alert system rules (see 1801240030), said an order (Pacer link) Friday. The FCC gathers information on state efforts to provide multilingual EAS messages, but no such efforts are required. MMTC didn't comment Tuesday.
RALEIGH -- Capitol Broadcasting remains “on the fence” whether to use 4K or 1080p in the transition to ATSC 3.0, Pete Sockett, head of engineering and operations, told us Monday, repeating comments he made at May’s ATSC conference (see 1705160044). Sockett spoke at a demonstration that Capitol organized with partners, including NBCUniversal, NAB, LG, Samsung and the Korean government-funded Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), to showcase 3.0's capabilities. In addition to showing 3.0 as a carrier for Ultra HD video, the demo also previewed 3.0-capable advanced emergency alerting on an LG TV and showcased a prototype 3.0 home gateway for interactive content developed by NAB Pilot.
From ensuring localism to redefining media markets amid shifting industry dynamics, the FCC's eighth floor has a variety of media priorities, media aides to the five commissioners said at a FCBA panel Tuesday. Mike O'Rielly aide Brooke Ericson said with the 2018 quadrennial review of ownership rules this year (see 1801080059), her boss hopes for a redefinition of media markets that better reflects the market. Chairman Ajit Pai aide Alison Nemeth said he has been clear about his goals of either modernizing or eliminating regulations, especially given how media rules often have gone long without any review. Mignon Clyburn aide David Grossman said she continues to push her independent programming NPRM, though the issue hasn't moved since its 3-2 approval in 2016 (see 1609290036). She also remains focused on localism and diversity, he said. While the media market has changed, that doesn't necessarily translate into greater accessibility, since many over-the-top services are out of reach to some consumers due to broadband unavailability or finances, he added. Asked about the effect of publicly releasing items in advance of monthly meetings, Jessica Rosenworcel aide Kate Black said it gives more time for finding compromise on items. Aides said it also reduces the amount of guesswork in ex parte meetings on what's in items, making for more-focused meetings. Nemeth said along with front loading bureaus' work, leaving less time for last-minute tweaks, it resulted in people increasingly skipping meetings with bureaus and trying to set up meetings with the eighth floor, "a bad move." Commissioner Brendan Carr aide Evan Swarztrauber said parties shouldn't skip meeting offices they think will disagree with then, since eighth-floor offices want to hear an array of viewpoints. Asked about the broadcast TV repacking time frame and financing, Nemeth said Pai's office has no reason to think it will go beyond 39 months, but the $1.75 billion fund is likely insufficient. She and Ericson said neither commissioner is interested in revisiting the OTT-as-MVPD proceeding. Asked about last month's false missile alert in Hawaii, Ericson said O'Rielly was happy with how the emergency alert system worked in distribution, and problems came in the alert generation.
President Donald Trump’s administration again proposed to cut federal funding to CPB in its FY 2019 budget proposal, placing it among the 22 entities it’s aiming to zero out for federal funding in a bid to “bring Federal spending under control, and reduce deficits by $3.6 trillion over the budget window.” The administration also proposed Monday expanding FCC authority to do spectrum auctions and eliminating accrued interest on future deposits in the Rural Utilities Service borrowers’ cushion of credit accounts. The budget largely maintains the funding levels the FCC, FTC and NTIA proposed in the Trump administration’s FY 2018 request, all of which are down from the year’s funding levels under continuing appropriations (see 1705230041). The White House also released its infrastructure legislative proposal, which would streamline the permit review process for small cells and Wi-Fi deployments (see 1802120001).
Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, led Tuesday's filing of the Authenticating Local Emergencies and Real Threats (Alert) Act to address issues with the emergency alert system highlighted in the Jan. 13 false missile warning in Hawaii, as expected (see 1801160054 and 1802060055). Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo.; Kamala Harris, D-Calif.; Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, joined Schatz in sponsoring the bill. It would give the federal government the sole authority to issue missile threat alerts and pre-empt state and local governments' role in issuing such warnings. The legislation also would require the Federal Emergency Management Agency National Advisory Council's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System subcommittee to “make recommendations on the best practices that state and local governments should follow to maintain the integrity of IPAWS,” which would at minimum “make recommendations regarding the incident management tools used to originate alerts, and the procedures for testing and sending notifications to the public to avoid false alarms.” The bill would require FEMA to establish minimum requirements for state and local governments to participate in IPAWS within 120 days of receiving the subcommittee’s recommendations.