For the fourth consecutive year, the FCC, in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”), will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (“EAS”) on August 7, 2019. While the details of the test will be similar to years past, EAS Participants, which includes all cable television systems, TV stations, radio stations and low power TV stations, should start making testing preparations because this year’s test is occurring much earlier than tests in previous years.
Requirements for EAS Participants
EAS Participants must complete several action items prior to the August 7, 2019, nationwide EAS test. EAS Participants must file EAS Test Reporting System (“ETRS”) Form One by July 3, 2019. If an EAS Participant participated in the nationwide EAS test last year or the year before, it should have already registered with ETRS and completed Form One, which requires EAS Participants to supply identifying and background information. This year EAS Participants will need to renew their identifying information in Form One and file an additional Form One for any new facilities. Each EAS Participant should file a separate copy of Form One for each of its EAS decoders, EAS encoders, and units combining such decoder and encoder functions.
Once the nationwide EAS test is conducted on August 7, 2019, the FCC requires all EAS Participants to complete the next couple of steps in the ETRS reporting system, ETRS Form Two and ETRS Form Three. Form Two is considered the “day of test reporting” form. EAS Participants must submit Form Two within 24 hours of the nationwide EAS test. Form Three is considered the “detailed test reporting” form. Form Three must be submitted to the FCC on or before September 23, 2019. Form Three requires EAS Participants to provide the FCC with detailed information regarding two components of the EAS nationwide test message: receipt of the message and retransmission of the message.
The FCC’s Public Notice also stresses several additional requirements for EAS Participants prior to the nationwide EAS Test. Among the most important of these requirements is that EAS Participants must ensure that a copy of the current EAS Operating Handbook is located at the normal duty positions or EAS equipment locations and is immediately available to operators. Additionally, among other things, the FCC recommends that EAS Participants ensure that their EAS equipment and software is upgraded to the most recent version and can receive and process the national periodic test code, the “six zeroes” national location code, and otherwise operate in compliance with the FCC rules. EAS Participants should review the Public Notice for additional suggestions from the FCC.
At this time we strongly advise EAS Participants to complete Form One as soon as possible to insure any issues are resolved prior to the July 3rd mandatory filing date. We also encourage EAS Participants to inspect all EAS-related equipment to confirm that the equipment is operating properly prior to the August 7th nationwide EAS test.
