FCC Considering Adding Satellite Radio, Digital Platforms to EAS
The FCC is set to expand emergency alert system (EAS) requirements to include satellite radio and other digital platforms as the Commission prepares to seek comment on its role in enabling such alerts on new technologies, sources said. The Commission said late Fri. that this week’s meeting will include consideration of EAS rules, as had been expected (CD Oct 17 p11). The FCC document wasn’t more specific, as is typical in so-called Sunshine notices.
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The broad order set for a Fri. vote will say that digital products such as cable, DBS and satellite radio should be subject to EAS rules, the sources said. The FCC will also seek comment on how new technologies including wireless phones, PDAs and other Web-enabled devices can be used to alert people in emergencies, they said. Earlier this month, 21 House lawmakers including Majority Whip Blunt (R-Mo.) said satellite radio licensees should follow EAS rules (CD Oct 7 p5).
At least one company and an advocacy group may support the FCC proposals. DirecTV was the most laudatory in ex parte comments filed with the FCC. The Minority Media & Telecom Council, which had asked the FCC to mandate multilingual EAS announcements (CD Oct 19 p10), may support the rules. “That is a very good thing,” MMTC Exec. Dir. David Honig told us, speaking about the EAS push in general. “It certainly would also be good if, in doing that, they make sure [that] irrespective of what tech they use, it’s multilingual.”
DirecTV said it would commit to revamping its DBS system to deliver national Emergency Alert System (EAS) messages to subscribers. DirecTV said the best way it could support FCC efforts at EAS would to be configure its customers’ set-top boxes to tune to a single channel carrying the EAS message. DirecTV said it would remap program guides in subscriber set-top boxes such that they would re-point all channels to a single source of programming -- a national EAS message issued by the President. After a set-top box received the remapping command, a subscriber would receive the EAS message on every channel transmitted by DirecTV, they said. DirecTV noted that its set-top boxes now lack a forced-tuning capability. And to achieve that would take least 18 months, it said, matched by a govt. system to send EAS messages to DBS operators. DirecTV said it’s ready to commit assets to implement the system. But any obligation to carry EAS messages on a state or local basis still would be “highly problematic” because of the national nature of DBS systems, they said.