The National Association of Broadcasters laid out to the FCC the ways it believes the Emergency Alert System can be improved, which include geotargeting, funding for training alert originators and better compatibility for severe weather alerts.
It also believes EAS participation for radio and TV broadcasters must remain mandatory only for a national emergency message.
The commission’s notice of proposed rulemaking was released in August and the first batch of comments has landed. The NPRM was part of a “ground-up re-examination” of the nation’s EAS and Wireless Emergency Alerts and whether they are meeting the needs of the public and alerting authorities.
The FCC also sought input into the objectives that effective alert and warnings systems should serve.
NAB said of the many ways stations serve the public interest, none is more important than the role they play in protecting the public.
But it also took the time to remind the FCC that “EAS is essentially an unfunded government mandate.”
More precise location
Improved geotargeting would make EAS more effective, NAB said. More precise alerts, it explained, would benefit public safety by highlighting vulnerable populations while also filtering warnings to those outside the affected area.
It suggested receiver-end enhancements, similar to those with WEA alerts. Consumer receivers would require embedded technology required to be location-aware, interpret the emergency message and determine if the message applies to its location.
NAB said ATSC 3.0 has the potential to deliver “advanced emergency alerting” which could contain geotargeting data that a properly configured NextGen TV receiver could use to determine if the emergency message is geographically relevant.
“HD Radio may have similar capabilities to enhance the geotargeting of radio EAS alerts,” NAB suggested.
Presidential only
In reference to the commission’s request for comment on EAS participation mandates, NAB said there should be no change from the system as-is. Right now, EAS alerts are only mandatory for national emergency messages — or what the NAB referred to as presidential alerts.
It believed the current approach helps avoid alert fatigue and gives local stations the ability to tailor the frequency and content of their alerts.
Weather warning gap on IPAWS
NAB suggested that the FCC should coordinate with FEMA and the National Weather Service to resolve any roadblocks to NWS’ issuance of weather alerts via the FEMA IPAWS feed.
“Technical issues” have led to weather alerts being blocked and present an “important gap” in the EAS, NAB said.
“NWS issues the vast majority of emergency alerts received by broadcasters, and yet, NWS-issued alerts are not passed to broadcasters via the FEMA IPAWS feed,” NAB wrote.
“Infinite coverage” not compatible, AM lauded
NAB casted doubt on the ability for other connected platforms, such as streamers, to be compatible with EAS.
“Pure-play” online streamers are not well-positioned, NAB wrote, because their “infinite coverage” make it “effectively impossible” to monitor for alerts based on geography or type of alert.
But the broadcast trade group also lauded the value of AM radio in its comments as lawmakers continue to discuss the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act on Capitol Hill.
“AM radio serves as the backbone of the legacy EAS system,” NAB said, “with AM radio’s ability to transmit signals over long distances, wide accessibility and superior resiliency making it a critical tool for disseminating alerts.”
AM stations make up the vast majority of the EAS Primary Entry Points across the nation, NAB said, which it said reliably reach approximately 90% of Americans and are monitored by other EAS participants for messages.
Security trade-offs
Cybersecurity, which has been emphasized since the Jessica Rosenworcel-led FCC administration, is important to prevent an adversary from hacking in and issuing false EAS messages, NAB acknowledged, but it cautioned that incorporating additional authentication and validation must be weighed against potential time delays and reliability concerns.
It suggested that any additional layers of security should be backwards compatible with the existing system.
Local alert originators
Regarding the role of local alert originators (AOs), NAB said it believes the FCC should consider additional funding and training that could increase the number of AOs that can use EAS accurately and promote more collaboration.
Although many local agencies use federal grants to defray the costs of initiating access, some find it difficult to sustain that investment after their grant expires.
NAB encouraged the commission to find ways to close the funding gap, which it suggested through requests for congressional funding through FEMA to award grants to local entities interested in using IPAWS.
The association also said it understood that many government entities do not use FEMA’s IPAWS to distribute EAS alerts. To add emphasis, the group pointed to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service that cited a 2020 GAO report finding that only 70% of the country’s population is covered by a local alerting authority authorized to use IPAWS.
Better training of AOs also needs to happen, NAB urged, since errors are sometimes caused by “nonstandard alerting systems, or a lack of experience in writing effective alerts.”
No mention of language templates
NAB did not mention developments related to the “template-based” multi-lingual EAS alert system proposed by the Rosenworcel-led FCC.
It earlier urged the FCC to reject the proposal to use pre-scripted alerts in 13 different languages that would be stored in EAS devices. NAB said it could lead to further confusion for non-English speakers. The FCC has made alert templates available for wireless carriers for WEA alerts.
You can review industry comments online at the FCC’s website. Reply comments are due by Oct. 10.
We’ll be covering comments about EAS filed by other organizations in the coming days.
Comment on this or any article. Email [email protected].
