OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Providing emergency alerts to TV viewers will continue to be a voluntary thing for the industry, the CRTC said today.
In a public notice, the Commission set out its approach for the establishment of emergency alert services in Canada, and in another decision also issued today, the Regulator allowed public authorities to use 911 databases in order to improve the effectiveness of telephony-based emergency public alerts.
"According to the Broadcasting Act, the Canadian broadcasting system should serve the needs of Canadians," said Michel Arpin, vice-chairman, broadcasting, of the CRTC, in a press release. "It is vitally important that Canadians are informed of catastrophic events that could endanger their lives, such as severe weather disturbances, and using the broadcasting system is the quickest and most effective way of doing so."
The Commission considers that an emergency alert service should:
* Be built and operated through the joint efforts of, and recognize the respective roles and concerns of, emergency management officials, broadcasters and broadcasting distribution undertakings;
* Be capable of responding to local, regional and national emergencies
* Deliver alerts to those who watch or listen to Canadian broadcasting services, including those with visual and hearing impairments, wherever they may reside
* Make use of radio and television broadcast facilities as well as cable, satellite, wireline/wireless distribution undertakings effectively and economically
* Have the ability to target alerts to specific geographic areas
* Recognize Canada’s linguistic duality.
The CRTC proposes to modify its broadcasting regulations to remove regulatory barriers to the timely development and implementation of an emergency alert service by all industry stakeholders, says today’s press release.
Considering the agreement for the need for a national emergency alert system among stakeholders, the CRTC strongly expects broadcasters and distributors to carry the alert messages voluntarily and will closely monitor the progression of this approach. If it becomes apparent that a voluntary approach is not adequate, the Commission will consider taking additional measures to ensure that Canadians receive timely warnings of imminent perils.
The Weather Network proposed as far back as 1999 to offer such a service to distributors, for a fee, and they were central to hearings on the matter in May 2006, and while the Commission approved their new service, it did not grant their wish for mandatory carriage. TWN is in a bit of a unique position in that it already monitors the weather closely and has hardware installed in cable headends around the country.
Bell ExpressVu and the CBC were also given the go ahead for its service, too.
As for opening up the 911 databases, "the Commission believes that the ability to quickly obtain the most comprehensive and up-to-date information, as found in 911 databases, could make a critical difference in emergency situations. With the appropriate safeguards, the Commission believes that telephony-based emergency public alerting services making use of 911 information could significantly improve public safety," it said.
