Comments on changes to emergency alert system rules (CD May 30 p11) sought by an American Cable Association petition for reconsideration of an FCC EAS order are due June 25 in docket 04-296, replies July 3, the agency said in a notice in Friday’s Federal Register (http://xrl.us/bnbab4). Another notice said comments on a request by Ion Media to move WEPX-TV Greenville, N.C., off Channel 51 to 26 (CD May 29 p15) are due in docket 12-130 on July 9, replies July 23 (http://xrl.us/bnbaci).
The FCC got Office of Management and Budget approval for six months of information collection requirements as part of an emergency alert system order, which took effect Thursday, the commission said in that day’s Federal Register (http://xrl.us/bna5a2). That means new rules for radio and TV stations and subscription-video providers to pass along warnings in the common alerting protocol format (CD March 23 p4) are in effect before the June 30 deadline for CAP compliance, said the Fletcher Heald law firm that has clients who are alert participants (http://xrl.us/bna5aw). “While OMB approval normally lasts three years, the Commission had sought ‘emergency’ OMB review, meaning that the FCC had cut some procedural corners in the usual Paperwork Reduction Act clearance process. The abbreviated six-month approval from OMB will give the Commission the opportunity to fill in the gaps.” FCC and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials spoke on a webcast organized by FEMA, which developed CAP, about the format late Wednesday. (See report above.)
Major websites are interested in getting emergency alert system feeds becoming available over the Internet now that the government and EAS participants are implementing a new format, federal officials and broadcasters said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s integrated public alert and warning system makes it possible for websites to get real-time access to EAS messages, noted FEMA IPAWS Director Antwane Johnson on an agency webinar late Wednesday. Traditional EAS participants in the broadcasting and pay-TV industries are getting ready for the Common Alerting Protocol message format that distributes the alerts online, which the FCC has required be able to be received and passed on starting at month’s end, FEMA and FCC officials noted.
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., said Wednesday he didn’t think there is enough political will for lawmakers to tackle music royalty performance rights this session. He'd prefer an industry-based solution rather than congressional intervention, he said: “Frankly you see a stalemate up here on these issues, and so it really is better done out in the marketplace,” he told us following a subcommittee hearing on the future of audio. He and other subcommittee members praised a recent Clear Channel agreement to pay performance royalties to the Big Machine Label Group and its artists (CD June 6 p12).
The Advanced TV Systems Committee approved a new delivery standard for “non-real-time” content, it said Tuesday. The delivery of non-real-time services via the backward-compatible “A/103” standard “will now allow broadcasters to deliver file-based content, including programs and clips, information for emergency alerts and even commercial applications such as digital signage,” the ATSC said. The standard supports terrestrial transmission to fixed and mobile DTV receivers that are outfitted with “the new flexibility,” it said. The standard “gives broadcasters the capability to deliver all types of file-based content to consumers,” President Mark Richer said. “Using broadcast television, programmers will be able to send content that a viewer may watch at their convenience."
The FCC sought comment on an American Cable Association petition (CD April 24 p13) to change some emergency alert system rules so small operators without broadband connections have a streamlined waiver process. The commission also sought comment on parts of the January emergency alert system order on Common Alerting Protocol, a new format using the Internet in which all EAS participants, which include all cable systems and radio and TV stations, must be able to get alerts in by June 30. “Nowhere” does the order say “a wireline broadband connection is necessary to comply with the Commission’s requirement,” an FCC public notice released late last week said. “We seek comment whether any presumption in favor of granting a waiver based on lack of physical access to broadband should be limited to an EAS Participant’s lack of physical access to a wireline broadband connection, as ACA requests.” The agency wants to know if it should consider costs of getting broadband in reviewing waiver requests, as the association asked. “If so, how should the Commission weigh such cost in this assessment?” the notice said (http://xrl.us/bm9p2f). “Should such an assessment be dependent on the financial condition of the petitioner? If so, what standard should we use for assessing whether a waiver is warranted based on financial condition? How much and what kind of information about a petitioner’s financial condition should be submitted in support of a waiver request? Should information as to where the waiver applicant is in its EAS equipment replacement cycle be a factor in the Commission’s analysis?” Comments on the notice, which posed other questions on the ACA request, are due, in docket 04-296, 15 days after the item’s publication in the Federal Register, replies 10 days later.
The FCC seeks to identify additional regulations ripe for retrospective analysis, the agency said in its final plan for retrospective analysis of existing rules, released Friday. The commission seeks to review Section 11 of the Communications Act, the regulatory flexibility rules, broadcast ownership rules, paperwork reduction and forbearance request rules, it said. Other retrospective reviews are related to issues like USF, broadcast TV spectrum, the emergency alert system, digital encryption, outage reporting requirements, wireless E-911 location accuracy and 700 MHz interoperability. The FCC also seeks to identify rules that may have a disproportionate or undue impact on certain entities, including regulations involving foreign ownership, pole attachment and antenna structures. The agency would also consider whether a regulation has been subject to frequent requests for waivers or been identified as needing revision. Other factors the FCC may consider include the need to eliminate overlapping or duplicative regulations, the need to eliminate conflicts or inconsistencies with other rules and the need to simplify or clarify regulatory language. Commissioner Ajit Pai said that in light of the importance of the analysis, the 2012 biennial review should take the form of commission-level action rather than bureau-level recommendations. Section 11 of the Communications Act requires the commission to review every two years all regulations that apply to the operations or activities of service providers and determine whether those regulations are “no longer necessary in the public interest as the result of meaningful economic competition between providers of such service,” he said. Following the review, the agency is then required “to repeal or modify any regulation it determines to be no longer necessary in the public interest,” he said. “Releasing the Final Plan for Retrospective Reform is a result of the hard work of our staff, and affirms the agency’s extensive efforts to eliminate unnecessary regulations,” Chairman Julius Genachowski said. “The FCC continues to make strong progress toward our goal of being a model of excellence in government."
Public broadcasting is continuing to thrive in the changing media landscape as leaders find ways to streamline station operations, create a new business model and maintain partnerships geared toward education and community outreach, said Patrick Butler, president of the Association of Public Television Stations. APTS also is working to revive momentum in Congress behind support for the federal appropriation for public broadcasting, he said Thursday at a Media Institute luncheon in Washington.
National Weather Service tests of warning messages integrating some traditional emergency alert system (EAS) features with wireless carriers are going well, a government contractor working on the project said Wednesday. The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System tests by the NWS, the most frequent federal user of EAS (CD March 14 p8), show the system “seems to be working,” said IPAWS architect Gary Ham. “The tests seem to be going pretty well” and some alert originators have had public alerting authority given to them, he continued. A technical problem that caused a delay related to some alerts has been identified and a solution is being implemented, Ham said on a webinar organized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The FCC Media Bureau proposed that Columbia University pay a $10,000 fine for failing to retain all required documentation in the public-inspection file of WKCR(FM) New York. Columbia “failed to prepare twelve issues/programs lists over a four-year period before its transmission facilities were destroyed” as a result of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the bureau said in notice of apparent liability (http://xrl.us/bm7y7s). Although the university has a history of compliance, “a downward adjustment is not appropriate here considering the extensive violations that occurred,” the NAL said. The Enforcement Bureau ordered Upper Peninsula Communications, former operator of a cable system in Powers, Mich., to pay an $8,000 fine for failing to install emergency alert system equipment, said a forfeiture order (http://xrl.us/bm72x4).