Patent ID: 8813121

Claim:
An emergency alert method, comprising: monitoring a plurality of news providers including a first news provider and a second news provider; responsive to detecting a first report, from the first news provider, of an emergency event, monitoring for a second report, from the second news provider, confirming the first report; responsive to detecting the second report, from the second news provider, confirming the first report: sending an overlay message with a multimedia program, wherein the overlay message includes an emergency alert indicative of the emergency event; and providing a selectable graphic element with the overlay message, wherein the selectable graphic element is used by a user to perform an operation selected from: snoozing the overlay message responsive to a user selection of a snooze element of the selectable graphic element, wherein snoozing comprises temporarily suspending the overlay message for a user configured snooze period; and dismissing the overlay message responsive to a user selection of a dismiss element, wherein dismissing comprises permanently terminating the providing of the overlay message.