On February 3, 2011 the FCC released its Third Report and Order (R&O) on the Emergency Alert System (EAS).  This R&O provides the guidelines for national EAS testing and collection of post-test data.  While some decisions were made, many aspects of the testing are still to be decided by the Commission, and in one case by FEMA, and on some issues no decision was made at all.  There is also one important item that appears to have contradictory statements within the R&O itself.

Decisions made are that there will be national EAS testing and data collection, all EAS Participants (broadcasters and cable operators) must participate, the first test will use the Presidential EAN Event Code, the test replaces the Required Weekly Test and Required Monthly Test for that week and month, there will be a 2-month notice before the test, and post-test data that will be required of EAS Participants is considered confidential and for use only by federal and state officials.  There are differing statements throughout the R&O as to whether the data collected from EAS Participants must be submitted to the FCC within 30 days or 45 days.  The adopted Final Rule says 30 days, but it appears in discussion paragraph 68 that they intended to extend the period to 45 days.  It appears this part of the ruling requires clarification.

Aspects of the national test that are to be determined by the FCC sometime at a future date but prior to the test are: EAS Location Code to be used for the test, if the Emergency Action Termination (EAT) EAS Event Code will be sent as part of the test, if there will be any offline closed-circuit testing of various manufacturers’ EAS equipment to determine any issues before the test, the time of day and length of the test, and if the 2-month notice period will be extended for the first national test.  Also, FEMA is to decide if the test will be conducted in Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the territories.

Other issues decided by the Order are that there will be an electronic option for submitting the test data and that the FCC will collect make/model information of EAS units in use, but that information will remain confidential.  In addition, no waivers will be issued to those EAS Particpants with EAS units no longer supported by their manufacturer if those units can’t comply with the testing requirements; instead, the Commission noted those stations can request NN (Non-participating National) status.  In response to a request that EAS Participants reporting problems with the national test not fear FCC violation citations for self-reporting those problems, the FCC said it would “exercise discretion” but it did not make a wholesale statement that there would be no fines.

Issues that the FCC did not rule on are if EAS Participants with NN status will be required to sign off the air for the national test as they would be required to do in a real national alert, and if there will eventually be a national EAS Location Code (such as 000000) adopted.

In the order, the FCC reiterated that the current legacy EAS is not going away anytime soon, saying “we expect that FEMA will rely on the existing EAS daisy chain structure for some time”.

In a related story, Damon Penn, FEMA Assistant Administrator, was a featured speaker on a February 3 webinar facilitated by the National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations (NASBA).  He stated that EAS is and will remain the backbone of emergency alerting in our country.  He went on to say that the timing of the national EAS test is a White House decision but they are sensitive to avoiding high-revenue periods such as Christmas and will likewise avoid hurricane season; he said they are shooting for Fall for the national test.

Link to FCC R&O: 

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-11-12A1.pdf