Cable-television subscribers will continue to support the alert system as the CRTC extends funding model.
Cable-television subscribers will continue to fund Canada’s life-saving alerting system for at least three more years after the CRTC chose not to adjust an arrangement that government officials have suggested is unsustainable and which was criticized by the commission looking into the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia.
The Angus Reid Institute released a poll last fall saying that in 2012, nearly nine in 10 Canadian households subscribed to cable or satellite TV services, but only about three in five say this now, because viewers have migrated to streaming alternatives such as Netflix. Alert Ready’s “current funding system is not sustainable and next steps following the expiration of the current [CRTC] term are not clear,” reads a Public Safety Canada PowerPoint deck that was circulated late last year following several meetings by senior civil servants across jurisdictions.
The Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission’s final report recalled how no Alert Ready warnings sounded during the May, 2020, rampage when a gunman killed 22 people. Police told the inquiry no one had ever instructed them on how to issue alerts. The commission concluded the tragedy was compounded because emergency responders were marginalized during the alerting system’s evolution.
When that initiative failed, the CRTC stepped in by exercising a tool that governments do not have – the power to tell telecommunications companies what to do. And since 2009, the regulator has designated Oakville-based Pelmorex Corp., a cable-TV company, as its hand-picked agent for alerting technology.
Public Safety Canada spokesman Tim Warmington said in a statement to The Globe that the federal department “does not and has not funded the National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination System.”
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Politics Briefing: Poilievre says new official residence for the Prime Minister would be his lowest priorityAlso: National emergency alert system relies on dwindling cable revenues
Read more »
Italy set to take over Telecom Italia's submarine cable unit -draftMILAN (Reuters) - Italy's Treasury can take full ownership of Telecom Italia's (TIM) submarine cable unit Sparkle as part of an agreement with U.S.
Read more »
Canada reveals roster to play women's NORCECA volleyball powersQUEBEC — Canadian coach Shannon Winzer served up her roster on Sunday for the seven-team NORCECA senior women's volleyball continental championship that starts Tuesday at the PEPS’ Amphithéatre Desjardins-Université Laval.
Read more »
Canada reveals roster to play women's NORCECA volleyball powersQUEBEC — Canadian coach Shannon Winzer served up her roster on Sunday for the seven-team NORCECA senior women's volleyball continental championship that starts Tuesday at the PEPS’ Amphithéatre Desjardins-Université Laval.
Read more »