FCC Deactivates Hurricane-Related Outage Reporting System

With Hurricane Matthew sufficiently in the rearview mirror, broadcasters, cable operators and others can finally stand down, says the FCC, at least in terms of reporting on outages—media outlets continue to cover the aftermath and help with relief.

The FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau announced Tuesday that it was de-activating the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) for that storm.

The FCC activated DIRS on Oct. 7 for more than three dozen counties in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, expanded it to more counties in South Carolina Oct.10, as well as Virginia and North Carolina following major flooding there, then deactivated it in most counties Oct. 13.

Media outlets in those counties were asked—it is voluntary—to apprise the FCC of any communications outages, damage or fuel-shortage issues.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.