A new bill in the United States Senate would force streaming services like Netflix and Hulu and even music services like Spotify to add emergency alerts.
The concern is as Americans move away from cable and broadcast TV they are cut off from one of the most popular methods of emergency alerts. Now this new bill will force services like Netflix to add alerts just like you would see on broadcast TV.
Streaming services have long pushed back against alerts saying that with the growth of smartphones and other devices that display emergency alerts on streaming services are not needed. Others have said that they are still needed because many viewers still give all their attention to the TV even when they are not looking at the TV.
Now the bill is still in the early stages, so don’t look for alerts on Netflix any time soon. Yet the idea of adding alerts to Netflix and other services has been something many in government have been asking for since streaming took off in popularity. If this bill fails, look for more attempts in the years to come.
Source: Tech Crunch
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