AWARN Alliance's Lawson Lobbies Carr Office on ATSC 3.0 Task Force

An FCC task force on ATSC 3.0 should include a recommitment to using the standard to provide advanced emergency information, said Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance Executive Director John Lawson in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr Monday, according to an ex parte filing in docket 15-94. The task force effort should also involve an external stakeholder dialogue on creating a voluntary industry plan to improve alerting, Lawson said. Lawson is a partner in a company working to produce alert-enabled set-top boxes and dongles, and the filing said the task force should also look into options for federal support of such devices. “These devices, working in tandem with broadcast stations, which have back-up generators and days of fuel, will be a lifeline for those impacted by disasters when cellular networks and/or the electric grid go down,” said the filing.