We wrote earlier this week about the upcoming EAS Nationwide Test and the need for broadcasters to make sure that their EAS equipment is operating in compliance with all FCC rules. The FCC itself has now released its own Public Notice detailing the many things that broadcasters need to check at their facilities before the upcoming test, including the need to update their information in the ETRS EAS reporting system by August 28. The FCC also issued a new EAS Handbook detailing broadcaster’s EAS obligations.
The Public Notice notes that the EAS test will focus on the IPAWS internet-based system through which the common alerting protocol (“CAPS”) alert is sent – a system that was mandated a few years ago as an additional way for alerts to be conveyed to stations to supplement the traditional “daisy-chain” of alerts being passed from one broadcast station to another (see our articles here, here and here). The internet-based system will allow both English and Spanish versions of the Nationwide alert to be transmitted and will also provide text of the message that can be converted to a video crawl on TV screens.
The Public Notice provides a list of potential EAS issues that each station should review to make sure that their EAS systems are operating in compliance with the rules. The Notice also sets August 28, 2017 as the deadline for all stations to complete their “2017 ETRS Form One” setting out information about each station’s EAS decoders, encoders or combined units. ETRS is the system that reports on the results of the EAS tests. Test results will need to be filed on Form Two in ETRS on September 27 before midnight, with more detailed information about the results of the test to be submitted in a Form Three by November 13, 2017. The FCC warns stations to start looking at these forms now – particularly the one due on August 28 – to make sure that your information is updated and accurate and you are ready for the September test. As we suggested in our earlier post, this public notice makes clear that now is the time for all stations to review their EAS equipment, and the ETRS Forms, to get ready for the Nationwide Test.