FEMA’s EAS ‘Compromise’ Not Sufficient for Some Broadcasters, But Backed by Gear Makers
A proposal to delay FCC enforcement of emergency alert system rules doesn’t go far enough for many broadcasters seeking a longer extension, while EAS equipment makers said the plan makes sense. The comments in interviews came after the Federal Emergency Management Agency asked the commission to delay by four months until Jan. 31 penalizing broadcasters that can’t encode and decode alerts in FEMA’s new format (CD Aug 8 p3). Public TV stations, state broadcasters and the NAB, among those seeking a delay, want it to apply to the rules taking effect, their representatives said. Executives of equipment makers said FEMA’s proposal could be a workable compromise for their industry and for all EAS participants.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
FEMA’s request is to put off enforcement of a commission requirement that EAS gear be able to receive and send messages in Common Alerting Protocol. The request applies to all entities that must pass along EAS messages, a FEMA spokeswoman clarified Monday. Instead of applying only to radio and TV stations, as the spokeswoman said Friday, the agency’s request to the FCC would also apply to all cable operators, DBS providers and satellite radio. A spokeswoman for the FCC’s Public Safety Bureau, which is implementing rules for the new standard, had no comment.
But four more months enforcement delay isn’t enough time, said broadcast lawyers at Pillsbury Winthrop. They said FEMA’s approach could leave a black mark on the files of EAS participants that the FCC finds to not be compliant by Sept. 30, even though the companies wouldn’t be fined for not following the rules until Jan. 31. The law firm petitioned the commission on behalf of commercial and noncommercial broadcasters and cable operators big and small to delay CAP compliance until at least six months after Part 11 equipment certification rules are updated for the new format (CD Aug 2 p12). Representatives of co-petitioners American Cable Association, NCTA and NPR had no comment.
"While FEMA’s proposal is a good effort at compromise, it doesn’t address the underlying issue that the FCC has not yet decided whether it will itself conduct EAS equipment certification in addition to the certification being done by FEMA,” said Paul Cicelski of Pillsbury. “The pending Part 11 proceeding may lead to rule changes altering the current obligations of EAS participants,” he said. “So even if there is a 120 day ‘grace period’ regarding FCC enforcement, the uncertainty regarding the purchase, installation and operation of new CAP-compliance EAS equipment won’t go away if the FCC does not extend the Sept. 30 deadline.” The grace period “implies that a station will still be in technical violation of an FCC regulation,” noted Richard Zaragoza of Pillsbury. “No station wants even that form of violation on its record."
Commercial and noncommercial broadcaster associations still think a delay of six months after Part 11 rules are finalized is needed, not the four months sought by FEMA. NAB still wants a six-month compliance delay, a spokeswoman said. The Association of Public TV Stations is “worried” that without an extension of that duration, the commission may not complete its certification rules in time for members to have adequate notice, said Executive Vice President Lonna Thompson. She hopes to get the Part 11 and CAP implementation proceedings “squared away,” so that public-TV stations “will have time to comply,” Thompson said: Six months “would be really beneficial.”
"This is a very useful and common-sense compromise,” said Senior Director Edward Czarnecki of Monroe Electronics. It commented last week on FEMA’s request, in replies on Part 11 rules (http://xrl.us/bk6vka). “Get the devices into the field so that the IPAWS network and EAS participants can both begin a shake down period to work any kinks out,” Czarnecki said of FEMA’s integrated public alert and warning system. “I would guess that they have a good grasp on what works and what doesn’t, using a combination of their own IPAWS CAP equipment conformance testing, and the existing FCC EAS equipment certification process.” The configuration period FEMA requested could be extended another two months to 180 days -- what the EAS petitioners seek -- if that was “deemed necessary” by the commission, Czarnecki said. “But the basic point is that the equipment needs to be in the field first."
Sage Alerting backs FEMA’s proposal, said President Harold Price. The maker of EAS decoders and encoders had advocated for three months extra for participants to be required to have CAP-capable gear while they test them with messages from the agency (http://xrl.us/bk6xc7), he noted. “This takes some of the fear factor away from the stations,” said Price, whose company is “getting some concerned calls from stations wanting to know how they can prove compliance at the end of September.” Without test messages available from FEMA, there’s no way to demonstrate that, he said. What FEMA seeks “kind of takes the pressure off,” rather than an FCC “nudge nudge, wink wink that there wont be any fines for this” during the implementation period, Price said. “You shouldn’t have to lose sleep at night over getting a fine.”