Unanimous Approval Said Likely for EAS Order

An FCC draft order on improving the accessibility of Emergency Alert System messages is expected to be unanimously improved at Thursday’s meeting, but it isn’t clear if proposed deadlines for updating MVPD set-top equipment will change before the item is adopted, said industry and FCC officials. NCTA and ACA Connects seek changes to the draft language. The agency is also expected to unanimously approve an uncontroversial draft NPRM on removing references to analog TV in the agency’s rules now that there are no more remaining analog TV services.

The draft EAS item will require EAS participants to prioritize the more fulsome messages delivered via Common Alerting Protocol, change public messages to be clearer, and sets aside a proposal to enact persistent emergency alerts for ongoing disasters. Most of the provisions in the draft order “reflect the consensus across the trade associations,” said Digital Alert Systems Vice President Ed Czarnecki in an interview.

The draft order’s biggest shift would be requiring participants to check for and prioritize the internet-based common alerting protocol (CAP) versions of EAS messages sent out through the integrated public alert warning system (IPAWS), which are able to deliver more text than those transmitted using the legacy daisy-chain system, in which the emergency tones of one station trigger alerts in other stations monitoring their feed. Under current rules, a station alert can be triggered by either the CAP or the legacy system, and most stations use whichever triggers them first. Under the draft order, an EAS participant triggered by a legacy message would check for the IPAWS version of a message for 10 seconds before sending out the alert, and if it finds one. send that instead of the legacy version. “The record indicates that most EAS devices require at least 15 seconds to process and transmit a legacy alert after the legacy header code is first detected,” the order said. That means the 10-second delay won’t affect the transmission of a legacy alert if there’s no CAP version.

More text means more detail, and more complete info for those who may not be able to hear additional emergency information.” People who are deaf or hard of hearing will have access to alerts in a viewable format that more closely matches the audible versions of such alert messages,” said the draft order “The clarity and accessibility of such transmission of information is central in protecting and serving the community's public safety, especially our Deaf, Hard of Hearing, DeafBlind, and DeafDisabled communities who rely on EAS to take appropriate protective actions,” said Thomas Horejes, who represents Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and a number of other consumer groups in the proceeding.

The order doesn’t require the cap prioritization for National Weather Service alerts, which can’t use CAP messaging due to a technical issue, but will apply to them in the event NWS begin using CAP messages.

The draft order would also change some of the terms and language in EAS messaging to be clearer to the public. Under current rules, a common EAS alert would read “The Primary Entry Point system has issued an Emergency Action Notification” but under the order it would read “The United States Government has issued a National Emergency Message,” the draft item said. Nationwide test alert messages that currently would read “the Primary Entry Point system has issued a Nationwide Periodic Test” would instead say “the United States Government has issued a Nationwide Test of the Emergency Alert System.”

ACA Connects and NCTA raised concerns about those changes in recent ex parte filings. The draft order provides a one-year implementation period for some of the changes to EAS codes, but NCTA said in a meeting with aides to Commissioner Nathan Simington that's not enough time because some of the codes are “hard-wired” into downstream equipment. NCTA and ACA Connects said the period should be 18 months. “Operators may not only need to implement updates on their EAS Encoder/Decoders, but on set-top box controller systems and set-top boxes as well,” NCTA said. The item does contain a six-year timeline for MVPDs with set-top boxes that can’t have their codes updated via software to replace them. ACA Connects also sought a carve-out for smaller cable companies from the set-top box replacement, or else an additional four years until the deadline. “Introducing a mandate that small cable operators spend limited resources to replace set-top boxes for their remaining customers could prove highly burdensome for some operators.”

Low-power FM advocate REC Networks said many smaller broadcast stations “do not have the budget or resources to implement CAP Polling within the proposed mandated one-year time frame,” it said in a meeting earlier this month with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. REC said radio should be exempted from the rules or given a timeline extension.

The draft order doesn’t institute persistent legacy alerts for ongoing emergency events, a proposal from the NPRM that was widely opposed as likely to cause repeating messages, spread outdated information, and increase alert fatigue. “We are not persuaded that implementing this proposal in legacy EAS would be technically feasible, and we take note of the virtually unanimous opposition to the proposal by commenting parties, including alert originators, SECCs, EAS Participants, and equipment manufacturers,” the order said.

There are still more things the agency could do to improve EAS accessibility, Horajes said. TDI and some other consumer groups argued that national alerts should include a link to a website with more expansive information and that visual messages should flash to grab viewer attention. A coalition of groups that advocate for people with disabilities -- including the National Association of the Deaf and others -- “look forward to working with FCC to address those specific recommendations to strengthen alert accessibility.” Horajes said. The FCC plans a forum on accessible alerts for video programming Oct. 6.

The agency’s draft item on analog TV would seek comment on whether to eliminate references to analog and digital TV in the FCC’s rules “as that distinction is no longer necessary since there is now only one type of television service.” It also discusses updating language to reflect changes to the Licensing and Management system, restructuring the technical licensing rules for full-power TV stations, and whether to eliminate rules for the analog-only subscription TV service. The electronic comment filing system shows no record of any ex parte filings about the item, and it's widely expected to be approved with little controversy, broadcast attorneys said.