The conclusion of the mobile emergency alert system broadcast pilot project “sets the stage for the standardization by the Advanced Television Systems Committee and evaluation” by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said PBS, the Mobile 500 Alliance, LG and other supporters of the project. The project was run by PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and LG (CD June 6 p11). In addition to public broadcasters, M-EAS is receiving widespread interest from commercial broadcasters, garnering support from the NAB Labs, the Mobile Content Venture and the Open Mobile Video Coalition, the supporters said. They said the project demonstrates the system’s capabilities for delivering multimedia alerts to mobile DTV-equipped cellphones, laptops, and other devices “to avoid the potential roadblocks of chronic congestion of cellular systems during emergencies.” LG demonstrated its prototype mobile phone this week at the NAB show, the company said.
Cincinnati Bell Wireless, Cricket, Flat Wireless, which operates under the Clear Talk brand, and nTelos sought an extension of Saturday’s deadline, until May 15, for the carriers to put in place the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) for transmitting emergency alerts to subscribers. Each is working with TeleCommunication Systems, but has encountered a similar problem, they said in a filing at the FCC (http://xrl.us/bm2xxo). “The Carriers all have been working with TCS for a considerable period to meet the ... implementation date, and substantial progress has been made,” they said. “Connectivity between TCS and each of the Carriers has been established and tested. The Carriers either have CMAS-capable handsets available and in service with certain end users or on order for near term delivery.” The only problem has been working out a link between the Federal Alert Aggregator/Gateway and TCS, they said. “The standard Interconnection Security Agreement proposed by FEMA for CMAS implementation was crafted for direct connections by a participating carrier with the Gateway and not for a third party service provider such as TCS,” the filing said. “As a consequence, implementation was delayed at a critical time in the schedule.” The carriers said they're advised that the earliest date by which this problem could be resolved is April 19.
An FCC advisory panel is the latest entity to back text-to-speech emergency alert system warnings (CD March 14 p8). All levels of government can trigger EAS in a format that starts June 30 without sending audio files that take bandwidth and time for broadcasters and pay-TV operators to download, the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council said. It voted unanimously Thursday to recommend the commission rework an order on the new Common Alerting Protocol format to OK text to speech.
Paging company USA Mobility decided not to participate in the federal Commercial Mobile Alert System, the company said in a filing at the FCC (http://xrl.us/bmysb4). The voluntary program allows carriers to transmit emergency messages to subscribers. Carriers that don’t take part have to notify their customers.
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).