EAS handbook

Subscribe to EAS handbook

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

  • The FCC’s Media Bureau designated for evidentiary hearing a series of applications that, if granted, would transfer control of TEGNA
…

While summer has started and minds wander to vacation time, there are still many regulatory obligations to which a broadcaster must pay attention in July.  To help stay focused, we have written below about some of the important dates and deadlines applicable to broadcasters in July – and a reminder of what to be ready for when the calendar rolls over to August.

The one regular deadline applicable to all full-power and Class A TV broadcasters in July is the July 10 deadline for stations to upload to their online public file their Quarterly Issues Programs lists identifying the issues of importance to their community and the programs that they broadcast in the second quarter of the year that addressed those issues.  Prepare these lists carefully and accurately, as they are your only official records of how your station is serving the public and addressing the needs and interests of your community.  You need to first list the significant issues facing the station’s community in the second quarter.  Then, for each issue identified, you should list several programs that addressed the issue in some serious way.  For each program, the description should include the issue that the program addressed, the name of the program or segment that covered the issue, the date and time the program or segment aired, the duration of the coverage of the issue, and a narrative describing how the issue was treated.  Timely uploading of these lists to the station’s online public file is especially important during the ongoing license renewal cycle when FCC staff are looking closely at public file contents.  See our article here for more on this obligation.
Continue Reading July Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters: Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists, The End of Analog TV, EAS Test Registration Requirement, Radio and TV Rulemakings, and More

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the last week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

  • The FCC this week adopted revisions to certain EAS rules. Among other actions, the new rules (1) will change the

…

The FCC has released its EAS Handbook, specially directed to the Nationwide EAS Alert that will occur on November 9.  This Handbook is to be posted at all stations that are participants in the EAS Network (which is virtually all stations) for purposes of this test only (stations should also have the standard EAS Handbook at their control points, but this Handbook will be used for the Nationwide Test).  Cable systems are also participating in the EAS system and are included in the test as well. As we have written before, the November 9 test is the first time that the Emergency Alert System (originally adopted in the 1960s as the Emergency Broadcast System) will be tested for a national alert, even though that was the original, and remains the primary, focus of the EAS system.  EAS is now used mostly for localized weather and Amber alerts. 

The Handbook also points to three FCC forms, to be accessed and filed online through the FCC’s website.  While the use of these electronic forms are, according to an FCC Public Notice summarizing the EAS obligations, not mandatory, any station not choosing to use this system will have to file a paper report at the FCC by December 27 providing all of the required information.  If you elect to use the simplified electronic forms, Form 1 is to be completed by all stations and cable systems prior to the November 9 test, to provide information about the station or system and a contact person.  Form 2 is to be submitted on November 9, indicating whether the test was received.  Form 3 is submitted after the test, by December 27, to report information about how the test was received, or why it was not received.  Stations deciding to use the electronic filing (which is easier than getting an original and a mandatory copy to the FCC if a paper form is filed) should begin to review and complete Form 1 immediately.

In addition, the NAB has provided much material on the EAS Nationwide test, available here, including PSAs that stations should run now alerting the public that the November 9 test is only a test and not a real emergency, and also providing a suggested slide for TV stations to air during the test itself.  The message that this is only a test, to be aired by radio stations, is contained in the Emergency Action Notification message that will be sent to stations during the alert.  A sample of that text is in the EAS Handbook.  As this is an important test of the EAS system, and will require broadcasters to report on their compliance, everyone should be preparing to take part – and checking their systems to make sure that they are fully functional – now. Continue Reading FCC Releases Handbook for Nationwide EAS Test – First FCC Form to be Filed Now In Anticipation of the November 9 Test