The Federal Emergency Management Agency said an FCC order’s “unintended consequences” could make some emergency alert system messages originated in a FEMA-designed format useless. The agency petitioned the commission to revisit a January order (CD Jan 12 p8) on the new Common Alerting Protocol format to reverse its ban on text-to-speech EAS warnings. By not allowing such warnings where government agencies originating alerts send scripts of the warnings without also transmitting audio, some transmissions may not go through at all and others may only have warning tones and no actual message, the petition said. “No EAS Participants transmit the full detail alert message and the public is left to make life saving decisions based upon a 90-character” alert from participating wireless carriers “alone,” under one scenario.
The FCC proposed fining WNFO(AM) Sun City Hilton Head, S.C., $25,000 for not installing a working emergency alert system, keeping a locked fence around its antenna or maintaining a public file, said an Enforcement Bureau notice of apparent liability to Walter Czura. He has 30 days to submit a sworn statement that the problems are fixed (http://xrl.us/bmxk68).
There’s “adequate time” for makers of emergency alert system gear to get EAS products certified as compliant with Common Alerting Protocol, under streamlined FCC guidelines, one manufacturer said. “While additional regulatory clarifications may be needed as the CAP EAS process evolves,” the commission’s January EAS order “establishes an excellent basis for that process,” Monroe Electronics said. A filing posted Friday in docket 04-296 (http://xrl.us/bmv9dy) reported on executives’ meeting with officials in the Public Safety Bureau, which wrote the order allowing some gear for cable operators and other EAS participants to be used to transition to the new alerting format (CD Jan 12 p8).
The mobile emergency alert system pilot project, led by PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, has the potential to foster more collaboration between public and commercial broadcasters and also between public broadcasters and their local alert and public safety organizations, some public broadcasting and mobile professionals said Monday at the Public Media Summit sponsored by the Association of Public Television Stations. For the pilot, three public TV stations will create and distribute emergency alerts using video, text and other media, through devices manufactured by LG Electronics (CD June 6 p 11). The test networks are Vegas PBS, Alabama Public Television and WGBH TV and Radio in Boston.
The NAB wants the FCC to reconsider a recent order’s approach that bars use of text-to-speech technology in emergency alert system warnings. “Contrary to the Commission’s stated concerns about the accuracy and consistency of TTS alerts, TTS is a mature technology as evidenced by its common use in various state EAS systems and in weather alerts issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,” the association said. TTS helps automate alerts for stations that don’t have staff to read warnings on-air (CD Jan 26 p8). The NAB is concerned about so-called forced tuning, when a pay-TV provider interrupts regular programming during a warning to send all viewers to a “a common channel display of a simple EAS alert slide,” the group said. “Such ‘blue screen’ alerts carry rudimentary, non-specific material that is far less informative than local broadcast coverage,” it said. “Forced-tuning can be readily eliminated through existing technology, already deployed in many cable facilities, that allows cable operators to selectively exempt from forced-tuning any cable channels, such as those carrying local television stations, that provide emergency information.” That’s an issue the commission ought to “promptly explore procedural avenues for considering,” NAB executives reported telling officials in the Public Safety Bureau. Wednesday’s ex parte filing is in docket 04-296 (http://xrl.us/bmsgyp).
A cable system in Jerusalem, Ohio, risks a $10,000 FCC fine for not installing emergency alert system equipment, said an Enforcement Bureau notice of apparent liability to Richards TV Cable Co., which must submit a sworn statement of compliance with EAS rules (http://xrl.us/bmr32y).
The record so far shows that commenters “overwhelmingly” support “voluntary, industry-led collaborative efforts” aimed at developing a mechanism allowing texting to 911, CTIA said in reply comments filed at the FCC. Carriers offered similar comments. But the National Emergency Number Association advised the FCC to act quickly and warned that any interim solution is likely to be in place for some time. Several commenters said the best short-term solution would be IP Relay, as identified by the ATIS Interim Nonvoice Emergency Services Incubator.
The PBS emergency alert system pilot project using mobile DTV (CD June 6 p11) has been expanded to include a commercial TV station (KOMO-TV in Seattle), and organizers said they intend to bring the project to the ATSC for standards approval in May. The alerts developed by the four broadcasters involved in the pilot were shown at CES last month. This month, the partners begin a road show, with plans to bring the technology to WGBH-TV Boston, Alabama Public TV in Birmingham and Montgomery, Seattle and possibly Washington, D.C., said Jay Adrick, vice president of broadcast technology at Harris Corp., one of the partners in the pilot with LG, Roundbox and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Then, an improved demonstration will be brought to NAB in April, with additional use cases and functionality.
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said the agency’s increased efforts on cybersecurity “are showing results.” Her remarks came during a speech at the National Press Club Monday. “We continue to work with the private sector, other government national security and law enforcement agencies and the international community to mitigate the risks and reduce the potential for a malicious actor to be successful. Last year, our Computer Emergency Readiness Team responded to more than 100,000 incident reports, and released more than 5,000 actionable cybersecurity alerts to our federal, state, and private sector partners,” she said. “These efforts are showing results. In the last year alone, the U.S. Secret Service prevented $5.6 billion in potential losses through financial crime investigations and $1.5 billion through cybercrime investigations.” Last May the White House urged Congress to expand DHS authority to address and modify the U.S. response to cybersecurity threats (CD May 13 p10). But industry members and some House Republican leaders including Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, remain hesitant to give DHS the power to scrutinize the cybersecurity plans of American businesses (CD Oct 12 p12). Nevertheless, DHS is “deploying the latest tools across the federal government to protect critical systems while sharing timely and actionable security information with public and private sector partners to help them protect their own operations,” Napolitano said.
Work at the FCC is intensifying on changing the Lifeline program that funds phone service for poor people, commissioners from both parties said Friday. A new draft of the Lifeline order circulated Tuesday night, prompting Commissioner Robert McDowell to return to Washington from a World Radiocommunications Conference in Geneva, he noted. Both McDowell and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn told a panel at the Minority Media and Telecom Council conference that the order tries to address waste and other inefficiencies in the subsidy program. Clyburn voiced support for the idea of broadband pilot tests, while McDowell said increases in one part of the Universal Service Fund mean all phone customers must pay more in USF fees unless there are other cuts.