Emergency Transmission Service

Emergency Transmission Service (ETS) is a service created by AE Group Europe. It is designed to inform viewers about life-threatening situations in their area.

Activaton
The format for alert activation is as follows:

ffff ffff ffff eee DE xx [A1 xx.yyy xx.yyy...] [A2 xx.yyy xx.yyy...] [A3 xx.yyy xx.yyy...] XXXXX

Where:


 * ffff is either EASA, EASB, EASC, or TEST (more on those later)
 * eee is the emergency type code
 * DE is the prefix for the issuing region
 * A1 is the prefix denoting the region(s) or subregion(s) under a red alert
 * A2 is the prefix denoting the region(s) or subregion(s) under a orange alert
 * A3 is the prefix denoting the region(s) or subregion(s) under a caution
 * xx is the broadcasting region, coded from 01 to 17 (both London franchises are covered under the same region number) or 00 for national
 * yyy is the subregion or 000 for the entire region
 * XXXXX is the end of line marker

After the activation string is sent 3 times (for error-checking), the text to be shown on the ETS screen is sent, terminated by the EOF character.

ETS-A (Full Screen alert)
In this alert, the screen and audio are taken over by the ETS system, which displays the map screen with the appropriate regions colored by alert type. An alert tone (853 Hz overlaid with 960 Hz) is sounded three times in a cadence of 1.5s on, .5s off. A prerecorded voice file depending on the emergency type code is then played. If there is no audio file for the emergency type, a generic audio file ("This is an ETS alert. Please remain tuned to this channel for further details") is played. After one minute, video and audio are returned to the broadcaster who by then should be able to report and assist with the the emergency.

ETS-B (Small Format alert)
With this alert, the box is overlaid on the video while two chimes are sounded. This box disappears after two minutes.

ETS-C (All-Clear / Additional information)
In this alert, the screen is shrunk down to fit in the bottom part of a 4:3 rectangle while a short all-clear tune plays. The text is displayed on the top area.

ETS tests
Tests can be issued from the national or regional level. The TEST headers do not have any text and only use the A2 prefix. When the test headers are recieved, playout is informed to switch to the test slide. The broadcaster is given 20 seconds to make an audio announcement, then the ETS equipment tests the alert tones. At the end of the test, the equipment sends an acknowledgment string back to the issuer (ACK xx.yyy DE xx XXXXX) and returns broadcasting to normal operations.