Members of Congress heard all about AWARN’s benefits during the U.S. House Communications and Technology Subcommittee’s May 17 hearing on emergency alerting. NAB CTO Sam Matheny testified on behalf of the industry, and his compelling demonstration of AWARN’s capabilities during the hearing was well received.

In comments filed May 9 with the Federal Communications Commission in response to the FCC’s Next Gen TV Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the AWARN Alliance “urges the Commission to adopt the proposed rules to allow the permissive use of the Next Generation broadcast television transmission standard and hasten the day when the American public can take full advantage of AWARN’s many benefits.”

Marking its one-year anniversary, the AWARN Alliance will demonstrate what could become the future of emergency alerting in the United States and other countries at the NAB 2017 Show in Las Vegas next week.

On March 6, 2017, the undersigned hosted members of the Commission’s Media Bureau at the ONE Media offices in Arlington, Virginia to demonstrate the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) and other capabilities of the proposed ATSC 3.0, Next Generation (“Next Gen”), broadcast transmission standard. The pending rulemaking proceeding to approve use of the new standard was discussed as well.

This petition asks the Federal Communications Commission to amend its rules to allow broadcasters to use the signaling portion of the physical layer of the new ATSC 3.0 (“Next Generation TV”) broadcast standard, while they continue to deliver current generation DTV broadcast service to their communities.

AWARN presents a rare opportunity to dramatically improve America’s public safety communications capability. AWARN can provide this public benefit by dual-use of the backbone of the nation’s existing television broadcasting transmission capacity and the new technology of ATSC 3.0.