Broadcasters Dragging Their Feet on Mobile Emergency Alert System

The number of non-votes and abstentions to standardize a mobile Emergency Alert System (M-EAS) may reflect the growing apathy surrounding broadcasting's struggling mobile digital television efforts, say some broadcasters.

In the Advanced Television Systems Committee Jan. 28 vote to make the M-EAS a “proposed standard,” several major broadcasters and vendors either abstained or didn’t vote at all. The vote easily passed with no objections, but that’s because ATSC doesn’t require a minimum number of votes in its elections. Only two-thirds approval by members who submit a vote is needed. Many members of the Mobile Content Venture (MCV), also known as Dyle — one of two main groups attempting to advance mobile DTV — either abstained or didn’t vote. By contrast, several members of the Mobile500 Alliance, the other mobile DTV consortium, did vote in favor of the M-EAS standard.