EAS

On Tuesday, the FCC proposed a $200,000 fine against Turner Broadcasting System  for distributing an ad containing EAS tones. According to the FCC, Turner’s Adult Swim Network aired ads produced by Sony Music Group that while they did not contain any digital data from an EAS tone, did simulate the EAS audio tone itself. The ad aired seven times over the network’s East Coast feed, and then was repeated seven more times in the West Coast feed three hours later.

While the FCC certainly takes EAS false alerts in ads seriously, it has seemed to recognize that the media entity airing the ad is usually as much a victim of the false alert signal as anyone, and as long as prompt action was taken to prevent a recurrence, has not been particularly punitive in its enforcement actions. That changed Tuesday, when the FCC issued an Enforcement Advisory warning against “False, Fraudulent or Unauthorized Use of the Emergency Alert System Attention Signal and Codes,” along with a $25,000 fine against Turner Broadcasting System and a $39,000 consent decree against a Kentucky TV station.

Twitter Alerts is an opt-in service that will push out alerts to mobile devices with information from credible organizations during emergencies and national disasters.

Following a national EAS test that was littered with flaws, the FCC is seeking comments on technical details of another nationwide test. Specifically, the commission wants to know if the hardware and software systems can be reprogrammed to accommodate new codes and at what cost.

Broadcasters and government officials say that the fact that TV stations did not air an alert during the recent Colorado wildfires exposes some flaws with the Emergency Alert System — a system that has recently come under scrutiny after a hacking incident and subpar national test results earlier this year.

The FCC prohibits the airing of Emergency Alert System codes and tones unless there is an actual emergency or EAS test. Last Thursday, however, life became more complicated for broadcasters when stations began receiving a PSA from the Federal Emergency Management Agency seeking to educate the public about the Emergency Alert System using the EAS tone to get that message across. Station operators were understandably confused and began to decline to run the spots. The FCC moved quickly (and quietly) to break from its prior approach, and on Friday released a decision granting an unprecedented one-year waiver of Section 11.45, permitting FEMA spots to use the EAS tone.

Late this past Friday, the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau released a report summarizing the outcome of the first Nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) Test conducted on Nov. 9, 2011. The report concludes that the national EAS alert distribution architecture is sound and that the national test was received by a large majority of EAS participants and could be seen and heard by most Americans — more than 80% of EAS participants across the country successfully received and relayed the FEMA test message.

A new movie, Olympus Has Fallen, to be released on March 22, uses actual EAS tones in the movie trailer. According to the Society of Broadcast Engineers, “if the trailer is used in radio or TV advertisements, the station may be subject to FCC fine.”

I can’t help but wonder if EAS is now subject to the same Internet arms race that bedevils online security everywhere, with ever-evolving measures and countermeasures being deployed in an effort to stay one step ahead of those wishing to commandeer the alert system for their own benefit or amusement. If so, the questions becomes: which is worse, false alerts that panic the populace, or a populace that becomes so used to false alerts that they ignore a real one?

A goof-up by some La Crosse, Wis., disc jockeys caused WKBT viewers to hear a warning of a zombie attack. When WIZM-FM DJs played a tape of the hoax on KRTV Great Falls, Mont., the alert tones triggered WKBT’s receiver, which automatically rebroadcast the signal.

Hackers broke into the Emergency Alert Systems of KRTV Great Falls, Mont.; WKBP and WNMU Marquette, Mich., airing a warning that dead bodies were “attacking the living” and warned people not to “approach or apprehend these bodies as they are extremely dangerous.” Local and state authorities and the FCC are investigating to determine how the hackers got access.

The FCC wasted no time in advising broadcast stations and other EAS participants to take immediate steps to prevent unauthorized uses of the Emergency Alert System like the fake zombie attack alerts that went out over a few stations in Michigan and Montana yesterday. While federal and state authorities are investigating the source of those hoax alerts, which appear to have come from outside the U.S., the FCC has just released instructions for EAS Participants in hopes of heading off any more false alerts.

Hackers broke into the Emergency Alert Systems of KRTV Great Falls, Mont. (see video below); WBKP and WNMU Marquette, Mich., airing a warning that dead bodies were “attacking the living” and warned people not to “approach or apprehend these bodies as they are extremely dangerous.” Local and state authorities and the FCC are investigating to determine how the hackers got access.

Digital Alert Systems and Monroe Electronics have published an application note explaining how to bring their DASDEC and R189 One-Net integrated EAS/CAP encoder systems into quick compliance with new FCC […]

In its latest effort, the FCC issued a Report and Order earlier this week revising the FCC’s Part 11 EAS Rules to specify the manner in which EAS participants must be able to receive CAP-formatted alert messages, and making other changes to clarify and streamline the Part 11 Rules. All EAS participants are required to be able to receive CAP-formatted EAS alerts no later than June 30, 2012.

In the wake of yesterday’s test of the Emergency Alert System — which had a few hiccups — a new question arises: As viewers consumer more media online, should the streaming video services recognize the Emergency Alert System?

The agencies want governors, federal legislators, broadcasters, news networks and other organizations to help spread the word about the Nov. 9 nationwide test.

The country’s first nationwide Emergency Alert System test is set for Nov. 9, at 2 p.m. ET. FEMA and the FCC have strongly urged test participants to get advance word of the test out to the public to avoid an Orson Welles War of the Worlds type of panic when the national test is initiated. To that end, FEMA has produced a PSA that EAS participants can use to forewarn the public. An interesting issue that has arisen is whether the spots require sponsorship identification under the FCC’s sponsorship identification rules.

The FCC today granted a request to extend the deadline for Emergency Alert System participants to implement the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) standard. The commission has moved the deadline from Sept. 30 to June 30, 2012. The extension means that the thousands of EAS participants across the country now have additional time to acquire and install the equipment needed to become CAP-compliant.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the FCC will conduct the first national test of the country’s Emergency Alert System on Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 2 p.m. ET. The duration may be up to three-and-a-half minutes.

The FCC has mandated that stations install new equipment by Sept. 30 to receive the next generation of Emergency Alert System transmissions — CAP or Common Alerting Protocol. But with the FCC still tinkering with the equipment reguirements and many states not on board with the plan, some broadcasters are wondering why the deadline can’t be pushed back.

Digital Alert Systems (DAS), a provider of next-generation Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) and Emergency Alert Systems (EAS), today announced that Hearst Television has standardized on the DASDEC-II emergency messaging platform […]

As a proof-of-concept, PBS will feed Emergency Alert System information to a variety of mobile platforms, including smart phones, computer tablets, laptops, in-car navigation systems and devices that incorporate the required ATSC Mobile DTV receiver chip.

Paul S. Rotella, the state broadcasting group’s CEO, updated FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on the “antiquated” state of New Jersey’s Emergency Alert Service. He applauds  the commission’s call for a national test of the EAS, but cautioned that “this national test should be viewed and used as a diagnostic tool only, given the benign neglect some parties have engaged in for decades regarding EAS.”

Key partners include LG Electronics and its U.S. R&D subsidiary, Zenith, which will develop handheld mobile DTV devices to receive the new alerts and will provide funding for the project.

The FCC on Tuesday extended the CAP deadline for all EAS participants to acquire and install the equipment necessary to use the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) standard for EAS alerts.from March 29, 2011, to Sept. 30, 2011.