[EAS] Cable TV Problems

[David Ostmo]

The flooding in 2002 occurred before the EAS Local Plan was adopted in 
the San Antonio area.  The numerous issues mentioned in Sean Donelan's 
positing were addressed in the local plan, including cable override.  
When the local cable system subsequently upgraded from analog to 
digital, they were no longer able provide channel exclusion because 
their equipment manufacturer didn't include that capability into the system.

In the San Antonio local plan, only news producing stations are eligible 
for cable override status.  The non news producing stations will have 
their channel covered with emergency messages on cable. 

Viewer complaints about EAS crawls over CNN, MSNBC, FOX News Channel, 
etc., are no different than viewer complaints for Discovery, Spike, the 
Playboy Channel.  The difference between cable channels and local 
television news channels is the fact that local emergencies typically 
receive wall to wall coverage with detailed, real-time information.  
Cable generated EAS crawls step over broadcast coverage.  Until CAP is 
adopted in the area, the incumbent protocol, Specific Area Message 
Encoding lacks the ability to provide text generated maps, street 
closures, and evacuation routes. 

If CNN, MSNBC, FOX News Channel talk about local emergencies, it is 
usually covered in one segment before they move on to something another 
story.  Even the Weather Channel does not provide sustained local 
coverage, like the local television stations.

The bottom line is this:  The viewing public is not being served when 
they are unable to see the local news channels because they are getting 
covered by cable generated EAS crawls.  An entire generation of cable 
distribution equipment was released without that capability.  The 
situation must be addressed before the next generation of equipment is 
widely deployed.

It does not matter if retransmission consent agreement includes cable 
override if the cable system is not technically capable of EAS channel 
exclusion.  The situation must be addressed by the manufacturer in the 
design of the cable system equipment.  A retransmission consent 
agreement can not change an industry standard.

One other item to add, I have not personally talked with any cable 
operator who is unwilling to work with broadcasters on the subject of 
cable override.  Cable operators are limited by the capability of their 
equipment.

David Ostmo
San Antonio, Texas

> You identified issues with many different parts of the EAS, not limited
> to just cable systems.
>
> Did the local EAS community, including broadcasters, cable, satellite, 
> wireline, emergency mangement agencies, have an post-event meeting or 
> review any of those issues you identified and update the local EAS plan?
>
> Outdated EAS alert information?  Its unlikely any cable system is 
> originating the content of any EAS messages. More than likely it was 
> re-transmitting EAS messages from another source.  Who was originating or 
> delaying EAS messages with outdated information?  How can the quality and
> speed of local EAS message origination be improved with the local 
> emergency management community to reduce the outdated information?
>
> How did local emergency officials coordinating with each other?  Should 
> emergency officials originating EAS messages check if another group of 
> emergency officials are having press conferences?
>
> You mention news producing stations were covering the event. How many 
> news producing stations are there compared to all broadcasters in the 
> area?  What where non-news producing stations doing during the event?
>
> The complaint of local emergency officials in the FCC comments, there is 
> no requirement for even news producing stations to carry local emergency 
> messages. It sounds like a dispute between industry rivals saying they 
> don't want regulations, but that they should regulate their rivals 
> instead.
>
> How can local emergency management officials reach listeners or viewers
> of non-news producing stations?  Are all the broadcast stations on
> the cable system particpants in the same local EAS area or are some 
> channels on the cable system from stations in other communities which may 
> not carry the local emergency information?  While a few stations may
> cover some local emergencies, what are the other broadcasters doing
> during those events?
>
> Should the local EAS plan's recommended event codes for re-transmitted by 
> changed based on the review?  Does the EAS plan recommend too many or 
> unnecessary event codes for automatic transmission?
>
> Cable systems also get complaints because a local EAS message overrides 
> CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, The Weather Channel which may also be covering the
> same story. Why interrupt The Weather Channel report on severe weather for 
> a EAS audio message about severe weather.  Since participation in state 
> and local EAS plans is voluntary, and difficult to automatically 
> determine which particular local or national station is covering 
> what local emergencies, should cable systems just opt-out of local EAS 
> plans completely because local news producing stations maybe or maybe
> not will cover the events?
>
> Why haven't broadcasters and cable systems included the requirement when 
> they negotiate retransmission agreements?  Nothing in the FCC rules 
> prevent cable systems and broadcasters from reaching an mutual agreement
> between themselves.  If its not included in the retransmission agreement, 
> its because the parties didn't feel it was important enough to make it a
> make or break issue.  Why should the FCC make a regulation that the
> industry participants didn't feel important enough to include in their 
> negotations between each other?
>
> It takes a lot of cooperation between a lot of parties to make EAS a
> success.  Likewise, blaming a single participant probably misses other
> things that need to be done.
>
>