Your Association joined with 46 other State Broadcasters Associations in support of the Commission’s effort to improve public warning and EAS by proposing to conduct national testing of EAS to ensure that it will function properly and reliably to inform the public in the event of a national crisis.  The Comments point out that broadcasters provide nearly ubiquitous coverage throughout the United States, and given their ability reach virtually all Americans, broadcasters understand their unique responsibility in disseminating emergency information.  National testing will enable the Commission to fully test the system in an organized, controlled manner, and to gather the kind of data from EAS participants that will help to both identify shortcomings as well as to point the way to necessary adjustments and improvements going forward. While we support national, annual testing of EAS, provided below are several recommendations intended to improve the value of the FCC’s national testing proposal:

• There is some concern that the Commission’s proposal to adopt national testing as soon as early 2011 is premature given that nearly all EAS participants will shortly be required to purchase new equipment in order to accept Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) formatted messages.  However, it is important to test the system to ensure that national tests will function properly in the event of a near-term crises and to use the test data to improve the functionality of the current system as well as the Next Generation EAS.
• Conducting the national test only once a year, with no established set testing date, is the correct approach and the tests should be scheduled at least 6 months apart to allow for a thorough review and assessment of the results of each test and the opportunity to correct any deficiencies before the next test.
• The Commission should provide at least four months, rather than two months, advance notice of the national tests, at least during the early years of national testing.
• Because the annual national EAS test largely serves the same testing purpose that a monthly or weekly EAS test serves, no overriding purpose would be served to require duplicative testing in the month and within the week when national testing occurs.
• The Commission should limit its national test data collection to the same log data currently collected by stations from their required weekly and monthly tests.
• Because neither the data to be gathered, nor the public availability of such data on a station attributed basis ,  is necessary for the Commission to determine whether the national EAS system is working the Commission should not place the national test data in the public record.
• Prior to commencing the national testing, the FCC should require all encoder/decoder manufacturers to officially certify that their equipment performs each of the required steps to receive, record, and rebroadcast an EAS message and more specifically, an EAN.
• Following the practice of the Commission in connection with the national EAS testing conducted in Alaska, the Commission should suspend EAS enforcement for any shortcomings by EAS participants relating to national testing. 

The State Associations support FCC ’s proposal for a national, annual test of EAS and hope the Commission will take these comments into account in establishing national EAS testing rules.

The FCC has extended to March 15 and April 13, respectively, the deadlines for the filing of opening comments and reply comments in its NPRM proposing national EAS testing. Read the full order below.

ORDER

Adopted: February 24, 2010 Released: February 24, 2010

Revised Comment Date: March 15, 2010

Revised Reply Comment Date: April 13, 2010

By the Chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau:

1. On January 12, 2010, the Commission adopted a Second Further Notice of Proposed

Rulemaking (Second FNPRM) proposing to amend the Commission’s Part 11 rules governing the

Emergency Alert System (EAS) to provide for national testing of the EAS and collection of data from such tests. The Second FNPRM seeks comment on whether the proposed rules would effectively ensure accurate EAS testing at the national level. The Second FNPRM sets deadlines for filing comments and reply comments at 30 and 60 days after publication of the Second FNPRM in the Federal Register. On

January 29, 2010, a summary of the Second FNPRM was published in the Federal Register.

Accordingly, the deadline for filing comments was set at March 1, 2010, and the deadline for filing reply comments was set at March 30, 2010.

2. On February 18, 2010, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) filed a Motion for

Extension of Time seeking a 14-day extension of the deadlines for all interested parties to submit

Comments and Reply Comments in response to the Second FNPRM. NAB indicates that such an extension is warranted because it will enable NAB to help develop a more robust record in response to the Second FNPRM, particularly concerning the complex technical challenges and issues relevant to nationwide testing of the EAS. NAB also notes that the National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations and NAB will hold the annual EAS National Summit in Washington, DC on February 28 to March 1, 2010. This conference will bring together representatives of the Commission, the Federal

Emergency Management Agency, Capitol Hill, and the broadcasting industry to discuss EAS, public warning and reliability, and emergency preparedness issues generally. NAB states that broadcasters intend to use this opportunity to address specifically the proposed nationwide testing of EAS and other matters raised in the Second FNPRM.

3. It is the policy of the Commission that extensions of time are not routinely granted.

However, such extensions may be warranted when, among other things, the additional time will serve the public interest. In the instant proceeding, we find that providing the requested limited extension would be beneficial to the development of a complete record on the issues and that granting the extension of time requested by NAB therefore serves the public interest. We therefore extend the comment deadline to Monday, March 15, 2010, and the reply comment deadline to Tuesday, April 13, 2010.

4. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Sections 4(i) and 4(j) of the Communications

Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. §§ 154(i) and (j), and Sections 0.191, 0.392, and 1.46 of the

Commission’s Rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.191, 0.392, and 1.46, the Motion for Extension of Time filed by the

National Association of Broadcasters IS GRANTED, and the deadlines for filing comments and reply comments in response to the Second FNPRM ARE EXTENDED to March 15, 2010 and April 13, 2010, respectively.

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

James Arden Barnett. Jr., Rear Admiral (Ret.)

Chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau