FCC Order Effective Aug. 10 on Emergency Alert Passthrough to Mobile Devices

The May FCC order requiring pay-TV carriers to pass through emergency alerts on a secondary audio stream to mobile devices streaming their content (see 1505210056) takes effect Aug. 10, the Media Bureau said in a public notice posted Friday in docket 12-107. Aug. 10 is also the deadline for comments on some other proposed aspects of the rule, such as whether school closing information should be included on the secondary audio stream; and whether the FCC should require multichannel video programming distributors to provide “a simple and easy to use activation mechanism” for accessing the emergency information on the secondary stream. Reply comments on those matters are due Sept. 8, the PN said.