FCC Hears From Broadcasters, Engineers, Pay-TV in EAS Test Issues Proceeding

NPR said the federal government should support modernization of the EAS function “within an open standards activity, rather than as a proprietary activity” (http://bit.ly/1hejkEO). The technology should be “empirically tested” and demonstrated through end-user testing “to have a high degree of utility,” it said. The FCC also should support the application of advanced granularity in messaging strategies and technologies, it said.

The time discrepancies that caused the Emergency Action Notification (EAN) message to be delayed or ignored should be eliminated, NCTA said in its comments (http://bit.ly/HDcxV1). The accuracy of the “time of release” element is integral to the effective functioning of EAS, it said. If that element isn’t correctly configured by the message originator, “the message may not be processed properly in downstream systems,” it said. The association’s members support amending the EAS rules to establish a national location code of six zeroes, NCTA said: This “would ensure that the national EAN alert is activated the same by all EAS equipment across the country."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Program Management Office also supported establishing use of a six-zeroes location code. Devices and systems not capable of recognizing an “All U.S. location code” should be configured “to be location agnostic for mandatory carriage messages which may contain an All U.S. location code,” it said (http://bit.ly/17J4Wk1). The agency suggested the commission add one or more EAS event codes. A code should be added “which would provide immediate mandatory carriage for a warning of a natural or man-made event resulting in release of radioactive material or widespread release of severely hazardous chemicals or chemical agents,” it said.

NAB urged the commission to address “cable overrides,” during which cable system EAS alerts interrupt broadcasters’ emergency programming. These overrides hinder the timely delivery of Amber Alerts and disrupt critical public safety announcements, NAB said (http://bit.ly/1be0SHl). The association urged the FCC to collaborate with all stakeholders “to ensure the soundness of EAS, as the public alerting system continues to evolve,” it said. The government’s engagement with the EAS-CAP (Common Alerting Protocol) Industry Group is an excellent model for this approach, NAB said. The FCC should refrain from placing language, size or font requirements for EAS text crawls on video distributors, including TV broadcasters, “which may have the unintended consequence of delaying emergency transmissions to the public or even reducing the total amount of information transmitted,” it said.

Cohen, Dippell and Everist, a broadcast engineering firm, suggested a yearly system test between FCC staff engineers and the broadcast technical community. “This step would allow for the regular testing and comprehensive review of the overall nationwide EAS system,” it said (http://bit.ly/1hqYKkJ).

DirecTV said it encountered no operational issues during the test, and has no suggestions for improvements. However, because there has been no test involving a message longer than two minutes, DirecTV “does not know how its equipment would respond to such a message or whether there is any maximum duration beyond which its equipment would not operate properly,” it said (http://bit.ly/HFNscr). The DBS company cautioned against basing an EAN broadcast on the time or release code: Doing so “could cause confusion and delay or otherwise impede the effective propagation of an EAN nationwide.” DirecTV also suggested maintaining use of the Washington, D.C., location code instead of relying on a new code, it said. Reply comments in the proceeding are due Nov. 19.