[EAS] Activity at the FCC

[Richard Rudman]

I just noticed that the FCC's EFCS website record for EAS [04-296] has some interesting new activity. 

First, a new Petition filed by the Texas Association of Broadcasters and the Main Association of Broadcasters asking for a postponement of the effective CAP compliance date beyond September 30.

Second the FCC's Order adopted 11/18/10 that postponed the original date.

Significant in that Order:

Given the foregoing factors, we believe that a waiver is warranted. It is in the public
interest to provide EAS Participants with enough time to correctly and efficiently implement the
requirements for a Next Generation EAS. We are concerned that retaining the lSD-day deadline would
lead to an unduly rushed, expensive, and likely incomplete process. On the other hand, our decision to
waive the deadline for a period not to extend beyond September 30, 2011 will not undermine the policy of
the CAP reception requirement, but will rather enhance parties' ability to "furtherl] the prompt
development of a state-of-the-art, next-generation national EAS.

11. We also note that we intend to revisit the issue of CAP acceptance by EAS Participants,
in an upcoming notice of proposed rulemaking undertaking a comprehensive review of the impact of CAP
on our Part 11 rules, including the CAP reception rule and the issue of Commission certification under its
Part 11 rules ofCAP compliant equipment. We anticipate that the upcoming notice will review the
issues of Commission certification of EAS devices, as well as current FEMA testing of such devices, and
that a subsequent order will provide clarity on these issues.

The Order does indeed confirm that there is a strong likelihood that a further postponement will be forthcoming based on Comments that will be made to the upcoming NPRM referred to in (11).

To download these two actions as well as view the 04-296 record of filings:  http://tinyurl.com/FCC-CAP-EAS 

Richard Rudman
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.radiolists.net/pipermail/eas/attachments/20110113/e5f87938/attachment.html