[EAS] FW: [BC] EAS misuse brings NALF

[Randall Miller]

Too bad §11.45 (a) doesn't say "No person may KNOWINGLY transmit or cause to transmit..."

The only time we would ever discover improper use of the tones/sounds happening on our air is when it's on the air, and that's a bit too late to stop it.

NBC sent us a legal-type email one time saying they ran content that may have violated §11.45 (a) at a certain time in the recent past.
It was supposedly during one of the local-avail segments we typically run our own content during, but it was too far back for us to confirm we did not air it, so we self-reported to the FCC "out of an abundance of caution".

Randall Miller
KOBI-TV Engineering

<snip>
The regs say "transmit or cause to transmit."   By including the offending EAS tones in its content that it intended to be aired, the FCC is holding that ESPN "caused" the transmission of the tones.  There's been precedent for this kind of NAL already.