Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for distributing urgent public information. Merely by way of example, urgent public information, such as an alert message, may be received by, inter alia, an alert gateway device. The alert message may then be distributed to a subscriber in any of a variety of ways, including by telephone, by data message (e.g., to a computer), by video message (e.g., via a television), by display on an alert notification device. In some embodiments, the alert gateway device may process the alert message and/or may determine how to provide the alert message to the subscriber.