Information for Broadcasters

In 2014, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission announced that participation in the National Public Alerting System (NPAS) would be “mandatory for broadcasting distribution undertakings, radio broadcasters and over-the air television broadcasters.”  At this time, Alberta sought an exemption from the CRTC to allow Alberta to continue using the Provincial Alberta Emergency Alert (AEA) system.

Effective March 2023, Alberta will cancel the CRTC exemption; decommission the AEA and transition to the national system. This means, that all Alberta Broadcasters will need to transition their Government of Alberta (GoA) provided ENDECs from the AEA Feed to the National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination System (NAADS) feed.

Although the Alberta Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) has transferred all ownership and technical responsibility to broadcasters, and no longer provides technical support and maintenance to the ENDECs provided earlier by the GoA at no cost, AEMA will provide some financial support to assist in the transition of the ENDECs from the AEA feed to the National Feed.

AEMA has arranged an agreement with Trispec, who is the only provider with technicians authorized to work on Sage ENDECs, to complete all ENDEC reprogramming required on behalf of broadcasters. All work completed by Trispec will be paid for by the GoA to ensure there is no financial burden due to this transition, until January 31, 2023.

The following resources will aid you in this transition: 

• Letter to Broadcasters
• Instructions to Broadcasters

Schedule transition with Trispec

Book ENDEC Programming

Important Dates

• September 30, 2022 – All broadcasters must have scheduled their ENDEC reprogramming with Trispec.
• September – January 2023 – Trispec will reprogram ENDECs per the schedule.
• January 31, 2023 – Last day for Trispec to reprogram Endecs with AEMA funding. 
• March 1, 2023 – Alberta to officially begin using the NPAS system province-wide.
• March 31, 2023 – AEA will be decommissioned.
• Spring 2023 – CRTC exemption for the AEA feed will be cancelled.

Contact

Please contact Meghan Thomas, AEA Team Lead, 780-996-2062 or Meghan.thomas@gov.ab.ca if you have any questions