Planning Starts For EAS - The Next Generation

Posted on April 17, 2010 by Davina Sashkin

PSHSB invites comments on EAS overhaul to accommodate CAP-based system

Attention, anyone interested in the Emergency Alert System (EAS) – and that would include current EAS participants as well as wannabes. The Next Generation of EAS is in the works – and now’s your chance to influence it. The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) has invited comments on possible changes to any or all of Part 11 of the Commission’s Rules. This invitation comes in anticipation of a rewrite of the EAS rules which will be necessary to accommodate the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) standard.

CAP standard? Surely you remember back in 2007, when the FCC notified all EAS participants that they must be prepared to accept CAP-based EAS alerts 180 days after FEMA publishes the applicable CAP technical standards.  FEMA recently announced its intention to publish those standards as soon as the third quarter of 2010, so time is now of the essence for the FCC to get all of its EAS ducks in a row.

So what is this CAP thing, really?

 According to the FCC, CAP is as “an open, interoperable, data interchange format for collecting and distributing all-hazard safety notifications and emergency warnings to multiple information networks, public safety alerting systems, and personal communications devices.”  It’s part of the federal government’s deployment of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). The goal of IPAWS is to allow officials who have to respond to emergencies – think FEMA, the National Weather Service, State Governors, other public safety officials –to get the word out to the public about emergency situations as efficiently and comprehensively as possible. In the old days, such officials generally had to rely on the broadcast EAS system. Now, in addition to EAS, the CAP approach will ideally enable them to send a single, geo-targeted alert simultaneously across multiple platforms, including cellular, internet, satellite and cable television providers.  Instantaneous, ubiquitous notification to everybody, anywhere. The CAP approach will even enable special formatting of alerts for non-English speakers and persons with disabilities.

In other words, it’s EAS all grown up for the digital age.

Unlike many of the FCC’s efforts in the traditional silo model, the new EAS systems are intended to cross technological boundaries and, thus, impact everyone from broadcasters to cellular phone operators to MVPD providers. Commercial television broadcasters are already required (by the 2006 WARN Act) to incorporate CAP-enabled EAS equipment as part of their digital transition (a requirement the FCC later clarified extended to digital NCE TV stations).  There is at present no similar obligation for radio stations, but it’s reasonable to assume that a requirement is in the works.  We encourage radio operators in particular to participate in the molding of new EAS rules: since it seems an odds-on mortal lock that radio operators will be looking at significant changes in their EAS obligations, it only makes sense that they should be involved in the planning of those changes as early in the process as possible. Cellular providers participating in the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) likewise should embrace the opportunity to shape rules which have never before been applicable to the industry.

The PSHSB invitation for comments casts a very wide net. Essentially, it asks for any and all suggestions about how any aspect of the EAS rules might be modified in connection with the shift to a CAP-based alerting approach. Interestingly, the PSHSB is not a formal notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) (even though a fine print reference in the Federal Register version might suggest otherwise). That’s because the Commission is not now in a position to make any concrete proposals about its own rules – and won’t be in such a position until FEMA gets the ball rolling by formally adopting CAP standards. Once FEMA’s standards are in place, the FCC (and other agencies) will have to hustle to overhaul their systems to assure that they can interact and interconnect with the CAP system. That’s when we can expect to see an extensive and detailed NPRM.

And when that happens, we can expect the rulemaking to be expedited to the max. The new CAP-friendly EAS system is targeted to be in place – with all industry participants able to accept CAP-based alerts –  within 180 days of the formal publication of FEMA’s CAP technical standards. And for the FCC – an agency not known for its ability to make quick decisions – the 180-day deadline can be expected to be a challenge, especially since the precise starting date won’t be known until FEMA gets around to publishing its standards. But since FEMA has indicated that that could happen sometime from July-September, the FCC can at least start pulling together some preliminary thoughts now. And that’s the process the PSHSB invitation is designed to get rolling.

Comments are due May 17, 2010; reply comments are due June 14, 2010. Please contact us if you would like assistance in submitting comments.
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Calendar Changes

Posted on January 30, 2010 by FHH Law

Not as momentous as the Julian-Gregorian shift, but changes you might want to note nonetheless

A couple of updates on comment deadlines that have changed since our last reports on the underlying proceeding:

Parental Empowerment – Back in November the FCC set comment dates in the “parental empowerment” inquiry. Those dates have since been extended. Comments are now due on February 24, and replies on March 26.

National EAS Test – And a couple of weeks ago we noted the issuance of an NPRM in which the Commission is proposing the establishment of an annual, nation-wide EAS test. The initial comment deadlines in that proceeding were announced on January 29: comments are due March 1, replies March 30.

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Annual National EAS Test Proposed

Posted on January 14, 2010 by Peter Tannenwald

Concerned about uncertain real-world-scenario performance of national EAS operation, FCC proposes annual national test for all EAS participants

The FCC has proposed rules providing for an annual test of the national alert capability of the broadcast Emergency Alert System (EAS).  What’s more, all EAS participants in the country will have to tell the FCC whether they received the test, whether they retransmitted it, and if not, what went wrong.

Just about every full power radio and television station in the country is required to have an EAS decoder in place, and most are also required to have an encoder and to conduct weekly and monthly alert tests.   All tests must be recorded in the station’s log.  Not every station is fully attentive to these responsibilities, and fines for non-compliance pop up fairly frequently.

The EAS is capable of both national alerts and alerts restricted to a smaller area, such as one state.  If a national alert is received, all stations must cease normal programming and either (a) put the alert on the air or, if they can’t put it on the air, (b) shut down.  Retransmission of smaller area alerts is optional on the part of the licensee.

The FCC has never tested the national alert system, so they are starting to wonder what would happen if the President ever pushed the magic button and tried to get his voice on every station in the country.  A lot of EAS decoders are automated, and a lot of stations operate unattended all or part of the day.  Would the nationwide system really work, or would it crash with a dull thud? 

(Actually, the Commission does have an idea of what might happen. It turns out that, in 2007, some FEMA workers in Illinois accidentally triggered a national-level EAS alert. Since it was not intended to be a test, presumably the alert looked like a real alert, and therefore it should have rocketed coast-to-coast lickety-split. Oops. Apparently, it “caused some confusion to broadcasters and other communications in the Ohio Valley and beyond” and ultimately ran out of gas because of a “combination of EAS Participant intervention and equipment failure”. That hardly encourages confidence that the system will work when it’s triggered on purpose.)

Such uncertainty may soon come to an end, if the FCC has its way.

The Commission has issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making, proposing to conduct a national test once a year.  Stations would be given at least two months’ advance warning that the test was coming but would not be told the exact time and date.  Every EAS participant would be expected to air the test, to log it, and to provide the test results to the FCC know within 30 days.  If the test was not received or retransmitted, a station would have to find out what went wrong, fix it, and tell the FCC about it.

Comments on this proposal will be due 30 days after the NPRM is published in the Federal Register. Check back here for updates on the filing deadline.

Presumably the national test will be set up so that listeners and viewers will be amply warned that it is only a test, thereby avoiding (at least in theory) a “War of the Worlds”-like panic. (For you young ‘uns, the “War of the Worlds” refers to a 1938 radio dramatization of the H.G. Wells science fiction classic,  produced by Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre on the Air.  It caused widespread panic among listeners.)  

But will your station be ready, and will its equipment perform?  Wise licensees will check out everything now and make sure that their equipment is shipshape, that no one kicked the plug out of the wall, and that they can receive the required two stations they are supposed to monitor.  One thing in particular to check is whether your encoder/decoder requires a Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) location code in order to respond to a message.  That code identifies the geographic area to which an alert applies.  A nationwide message might not have one, and some decoders are known to ignore messages with no FIPS Code.

Digital radio and TV stations should make sure that the alert is retransmitted on each of their audio or video streams.  We do not know now the format in which stations will have to report to the FCC, but we would not be surprised if the FCC’s website suffers from a simultaneous reporting requirement for over 10,000 stations the way it has teetered in the face of other simultaneous mass filings dictated by arguably ill-chosen FCC deadlines.

The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau might view these national tests as an opportunity to ring up their cash register at the expense of stations which drop the ball.  

Of course, the national test is just a proposal at this point. But the FCC appears convinced already that it’s a good idea, and it’s hard to imagine that there will be much public sentiment against greater national security. So it’s a pretty good bet that the national test proposal will become a national test reality in due course – probably not before next year at the earliest, but you never can tell. In any event, before the Commission adopts the national test, it would be a good idea for all broadcasters to check out their EAS gear now, and help protect our country, to say nothing of their wallets.
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FCC Introduces New EAS Rules

Posted on June 2, 2007 by Harry Cole

The Commission has adopted new rules designed to modernize the Emergency Alert System (EAS).  While the full text of the FCC's decision has yet to be released, in a public notice (http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-273458A1.pdf) the Commission makes clear that all EAS participants will be required to accept messages using the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP).
 
As described by the Commission back in 2004, when it first proposed upgrading the EAS, the CAP is a "standardized, non-proprietary, data interchange format that simultaneously disseminates consistent all-hazard emergency alerts or public warning messages over different kinds of communications networks and systems."  The idea is to have a standardized emergency alert so that the agency or individual issuing an alert need issue only a single alert which can then be received and processed by the widest variety of media (including, but not limited to, EAS participants) for re-transmission to their respective audiences.

While the CAP requirement may entail costs for EAS participants needing to upgrade their facilities, there is not likely to be any immediate hurry on that front.  The FCC's requirement will not kick in until 180 days after FEMA announces its adoption of standards.  So even if FEMA were to adopt such standards as of June 1, compliance with the FCC CAP requirement would not be necessary until late this year.
 
In addition to the CAP requirement the new rules require EAS participants to transmit state and locally targeted EAS alerts originated by governors or their designees.  (The Commission is also considering whether that requirement should be extended to alerts issued by local, county, tribal or other state governmental entities.)
 
The FCC is also looking at other EAS enhancements to improve the provision of emergency notifications to the disabled and to non-English speakers.  And to make sure that the whole system is working as designed, the Commission may require additional equipment testing, station certification and/or post hoc assessments of EAS effectiveness following alerts.  The Commission's decision included a second notice of proposed rule making addressing these various proposals.
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