[BC] Satelite Radio & EAS

[Tom Taggart]

Just skimmed through the 98 page further notice of rulemaking & orders on  
EAS.

I hope someone sues these bastards. Particularly the DBS TV satellite  
people, who now have considerable extra burdens imposed by these rules.  I  
think many of these rules overreach, and may be beyond the mandate of the  
Commission.

General impressions:

Digital good Analog bad.  Digital can do everything. We don't have the  
foggiest idea what we are talking about but we are going to make digital  
do everything.  The servers are your friends.  Shh!.. they are lsitening..  
(no that last is an IBM commercial.)

After reading through all this, one gets the impression that the American  
people are incapable of doing anything unless they receive official  
directions from the all-knowing, all seeing Federal authorities.

Most of these rules are aimed at allowing the White House to speak  
directly to the public through every conceivable communications means.   
However, despite all that has happened in recent years, we've yet to have  
had any real problem with the White House getting its message out to the  
people WITHOUT EAS activiation. But we have more and more record-keeping  
requirements to show this system works. A solution and a bureaucracy  
looking for a problem.

Satellite Radio:

Champagne corks are a popping at XM and Sirius.  The Commission bought the  
bre'r rabbit act and tossed these folks into the briar patch... See page  
18 where the Commission says:


"We strongly encourage SDARS licensees to have the ability to receive EAS  
alerts from state and local emergency managers and the ability to  
disseminate state and local EAS warnings on local traffic and weather  
channels that the SDARS licensees provide.   We will require SDARS  
licensees to inform their customers of the channels that will and will not  
be capable of supplying state and local EAS messages.   Finally, we will  
require SDARS licensees to test their ability to receive and distribute  
EAS messages in the same manner required of other EAS participants in  
section 11.61 of our rules and to keep records of all tests. "


I know someone reported that the terrestrial repeaters are not really set  
up for local origination. Presently.  I predict that both XM and Sirus, if  
they can outrun their creditors, will have locally programed channels in  
major cities within 5 years.  Justified by the need to have a means to  
carry local emergency messages.