Sirius XM urged the FCC to revise the...

Sirius XM urged the FCC to revise the 2005 emergency alert system (EAS) rules for satellite radio. The scope of the EAS testing required of satellite radio “is inconsistent with the operation of the platform and with the public’s needs,” Sirius XM said last week in an ex parte filing in docket 04-296 (http://bit.ly/1oWhHxV). Weekly testing of Sirius’ emergency alert capabilities is “unnecessary and duplicative,” it said. The FCC can further ensure the proper functioning of emergency alert equipment “through its logging requirements, as it does for DBS, rather than requiring transmissions to listeners,” it said. If weekly testing were necessary, the FCC would require weekly announcements to be carried by all comparable media, “rather than imposing that requirement disproportionately on satellite radio,” it said. Revising the rules will reduce the burdens on Sirius XM and its customers “while imposing obligations commensurate with those required of other communications providers,” Sirius said.