Odds of a nationwide emergency alert system test this year, the second-ever such exercise, likely depend on how effectively and quickly the FCC can address the aspects of the test location code, some EAS experts said in interviews. The Public Safety Bureau is preparing for a test to follow the first one in 2011 (CD May 2 p1). The FCC received comments about time discrepancies, the location code and other concerns, in response to a public notice that asked about equipment and operational issues from the test (CD Nov 12 p8). No parameters or date for another test has been set, an FCC official said.
The U.S. has “an opportunity to truly advance the ball” on next-generation 911 this year, said FCC Public Safety Bureau Deputy Chief David Furth at an APCO event Monday. NG-911 challenges remain, including getting public safety answering points (PSAPs) still relying on legacy TDM systems to update equipment, without jeopardizing their ability to continue doing their work under the present system, said Furth. He said he had just met with Rhode Island legislators and realized many PSAPs in the state are relying on 40-year-old equipment.
LOS ANGELES -- Aides to FCC Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mignon Clyburn said they themselves were encouraged by aspects of Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposed net neutrality NPRM (CD May 1 p3), they said on a panel at the Cable Show. Clyburn aide Adonis Hoffman, clarifying that he was speaking only for himself, said he is “encouraged” that Wheeler’s plan is designed to prevent a “haves and have nots scheme.” Though Pai aide Matthew Berry said those in his office believe net neutrality “is a solution in search of a problem,” he said Wheeler’s plan is more palatable than other net neutrality proposals. “We need to recognize there’s some progress being made here,” Berry said. “The ball is moving in our direction.”
The American TV Alliance pushed back against TVFreedom’s claims that public safety is a key part of why cable operators must carry broadcast stations, as has been lobbied for before Congress. TVFreedom, a coalition of broadcaster interests, had written a blog post for The Hill Tuesday (CD April 19 p19), and an ATVA spokesman, speaking for pay-TV industry interests, wrote one for the same outlet Wednesday. “Enough with the hyperbole,” the ATVA spokesman said (http://bit.ly/1kpHRnE). “Everyone supports public safety first and foremost. ... Cable and satellite TV providers are working with broadcasters to update the Emergency Alert System, which notifies the public of safety threats 24/7.” He attacked broadcasters on retransmission consent rules, which broadcasters have long defended. The fights have become wrapped up in the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization process.
The House Homeland Security Committee cleared the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Modernization Act, HR-3283, Wednesday by unanimous voice vote. A version of the bill had cleared the Emergency Preparedness, Response and Communications Subcommittee last month. The committee considered an amendment in the nature of a substitute, used as the base text going into the discussion (http://1.usa.gov/1o3TSS5).
Public radio stations in the Gulf region will begin testing newly installed equipment as part of a pilot project aimed at transmitting emergency alerts to the deaf and hard of hearing community. The pilot, led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and NPR, was originally scheduled to begin in December (CD Oct 24 p5). The project was extended to the end of May due to the length of time needed to complete the manufacture of the radio data system (RDS) encoders, said Rich Rarey, NPR Labs manager-strategic technology applications. “It took longer than we'd anticipated to build these units from scratch.” Testing of the equipment is set to take place within the first three weeks of May, he said.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau extended comment deadlines for a proceeding on establishing a multilingual emergency alert system. Initial comments are now due May 28, replies June 12, the bureau said in a public notice (http://bit.ly/1lOF0pn). The extension was granted following a request from the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council (CD April 18 p11). A proposal from MMTC for the rule change also triggered the proceeding.
The Minority Media & Telecommunications Council requested a one-month extension of the comment deadline for the multilingual emergency alert system proceeding. Comments are due April 28 (CD March 31 p15). The current period “is insufficient for MMTC to provide meaningful comments to each of the complex questions raised,” the council said in its request in docket 04-296 (http://bit.ly/1kFcaJk). The proceeding stemmed from MMTC’s 2005 proposal for a multilingual EAS plan.
Public safety officials face a challenge: how to ensure poorer, more rural areas of the country don’t fall behind their often richer urban counterparts as the industry transitions to IP technology. That was a major point of discussion at Thursday’s morning session of an FCC workshop focusing on incident response during and after the planned technology transition (See related story). Figuring out how to craft a national framework with minimum standards could pose difficulties, participants said, given a traditional preference among state and local authorities to do things themselves.
LAS VEGAS -- Beginning late summer, over-the-air field trials are planned by broadcasters in four markets of “Futurecast,” the technology that LG, Zenith Labs and GatesAir submitted to the ATSC as their proposal for next-gen ATSC 3.0’s physical layer, executives with those companies said Tuesday at the NAB Show.