The focus of a 9/16/08 special FCC meeting will be communications in the event of a catastrophic health emergency. The session, entitled Summit on Pandemic Preparedness: Enhancing Communications Response for Health Care and First Responders, will run from 9AM-1:15PM at the FCC HQ in Southwest Washington DC.
“The Summit will focus on communications and coordination between the health care sector, first responders, government and industry in preparation for a pandemic. The panel discussions will also highlight ways that communications may be expanded and enhanced in response to a pandemic and how the communications industry will serve an instrumental role in such a response.”
RBR/TVBR observation: Situations such as a pandemic outbreak highlight the need to protect local broadcasters from encroachment by nationally-focused satellite channel bundlers. None of DirecTV, DISH, XM or Sirius will have anybody available to work with first responders and get vital community-specific information out to citizens. For this reason, satcasters cannot be allowed to use technological wizardry to offer automated weather and traffic info. Local service must remain the bailiwick of those media outlets that will be on hand when the chips are down.
