OAKVILLE – Emergency management authorities in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island used The Weather Network’s localization technology this week to issue test emergency warnings to the public.
The messages were seen by cable TV subscribers only in those provinces, although The Weather Network is available across Canada.
“We are very pleased that the Maritime Provinces are showing leadership in the area of public alerting,” said Pierre Morrissette, president and CEO of Pelmorex Media Inc., which owns The Weather Network. “Targeted broadcasts over The Weather Network will mean that viewers elsewhere in Canada will not see warnings or be needlessly alarmed by warnings meant for specific communities that may be threatened by a local emergency.”
The Weather Network unsuccessfully last year tried to get the CRTC to require all TV distributors to carry its all-channel alert (ACA) system. It faced opposition from TV distributors and major broadcasters along with competing applications for a warning system from Bell ExpressVu and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Pelmorex did garner support though from emergency preparing organizations, municipalities and other agencies.
