JEA EPLUS BROADBAND PROVIDES IMMEDIATE EMERGENCY ALERTS

Press Release: December 7th, 2004

Jackson Energy Authority has installed special technology that will alert EPlus Broadband viewers immediately to severe weather and other emergencies.

JEA’s EPlus Broadband system will automatically advise viewers about severe weather and tornado alerts from the National Weather Service, Amber (abducted child) alerts, and all federally mandated alerts, explained Ben Lovins, JEA broadband operations manager.

The alerts are automatic, Lovins said. “They will appear as a crawl across the top of the television screen as soon as the alert is given by the appropriate emergency agency.” The crawl will advise broadband viewers to tune to cable Channel 7 for more information.

“We want EPlus Broadband not only to be entertaining for customers, but also to be a source of information concerning any type of emergency,” says Kim Kersey, JEA senior vice president of Telecommunications.

With the number of broadband channels available, it is highly likely that a viewer may not be watching a local station that would give local alerts, Kersey says. “No matter what channels customers may be watching, we want to make sure they know about an emergency bulletin immediately so they can take action for their safety.”