While I do agree that, at least in the US, local TV often has better and more timely news coverage than local radio stations, you have to wonder at least a little about the conflict of interest--a former TV executive wanting every cell phone to have TV.

Maybe it's different in tornado or hurricane prone areas, but I have long been disappointed here in California by the total lack of use of the NOAA All-hazards radio network for anything beyond weather forecasts/warnings. The technology already exists for timely and geographically relevant broadcasts by using NOAA's SAME technology, but it's pretty wasted here, it seems.

An interesting idea that has been around a while is building in some sort of "mesh networking" ability in all cell phones for sending/receiving text messages during emergencies. If a cell tower signal is not available, the phone goes into a store-forward mode to pass the message to another nearby cell phone user in an ad hoc arrangement. I'm sure that there are algorithms out there that would optimize the forwarding "direction" but the point is that the message would get passed phone-to-phone until a cell tower is finally reached. Obviously, there are issues like battery life or what happens when you have a stadium full of people when the power goes out and their phones are madly passing messages amongst each other, but I'm sure it could be worked around.