CARTT.CA RECENTLY RAN a piece on the soon to be launched Pelmorex early alert service. In this report, Cartt.ca editor Greg O’Brien stated that “the broadcast and distribution industry ignored repeated deadlines set by the CRTC to come up with its own EAS.”
This assertion is not true. Since 2007, and at the CRTC’s urging, Rogers, Bell and other industry reps worked diligently with Public Safety Canada and its partners to implement a comprehensive national public alerting system. Public Service Canada wanted a holistic multi-platform national public alerting service.
In fact, during the hearing on Pelmorex’s third application in four years for mandatory carriage, CRTC Chair Konrad Von Finckenstein responded to Rogers with “you worked very diligently with Public Safety and the whole Commission trying to develop it (EAS). We appreciate your efforts and we commend you for them.”
While the CRTC utlimately bought into Pelmorex’s latest bid for mandatory carriage – packaging it with an emergency alert service – it is not true that Canadian BDU’s were not working on the file. We had partnered, as directed, with the federal agency, Public Safety Canada and were working towards a national public alerting system.
Ken Engelhart
Senior Vice President – Regulatory
Rogers Communications
