The system can push text, web pages, and video to compatible equipment, such as mobile DTV devices.
[1][2] M-EAS is different than existing 90-character Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) available to cellphones, as it allows video, audio, photos and graphics, too.
M-EAS does not rely on the network of cellular towers, instead making use of existing digital television broadcast equipment.
WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina, was the first commercial broadcaster in the United States to demonstrate the system in 2012.
[2] A similar system in Japan is credited with saving many lives ahead of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.