[sbe-eas] Selective cable emergency alert override policies

[Sean Donelan]

With over 100 tornado warnings last night in the mid-west, is it time to 
revist the policies for selective cable emergency overrides?

Can NAB and NCTA stop sniping at each other and reach a consensus?

I recognize the problems with old analog cable systems. They likely can't 
do selective cable overrides in a cost-effective manner. There aren't that 
many analog cable systems, and no large analog-only cable systems.

Any recent (20+ year) digital cable system with digital local ad 
insertions should be able to support selective cable emergency alert 
overrides.  I know, there are some corner-cases with certain equipment.

But the FCC requirements for written agreements between competitors makes 
implementing selective overrides a PITA.  Too many lawyers, not enough 
engineers. The default regulation should be re-written assuming selective 
cable overrides, and the exception should require written agreement 
between competitors.

Likewise, digital satellite TV and IPAWS now could support local emergency 
alerting.  Its not the old analog satellite days. If the technology can 
support local digital ad insertion, it can support local emergency alerting.

PBS WARN carries nationwide WEA alerts in a 128 Kbps digital channel. 
Certainly, digital satellite TV operators could carry local alerts -- if 
it wanted to.