REMINDER: Digital EAS Requirements Kick in at Year’s End

By Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, L.L.P.

With budgets in the works and only about 100 shopping days until Christmas, stations should keep in mind that the FCC has expanded the EAS obligations to include digital radio and television broadcasters. The new requirements go into effect on December 31, 2006.

When the FCC adopted the new requirements in 2005, it recognized that digital broadcasters may need to resolve technical issues, such as equipment procurement, installation, and training, in order to comply with these requirements and provided broadcasters over a year’s time in which to do so. Stations that have not yet procured or installed necessary equipment, resolved technical issues, or provided training to station personnel should take all necessary steps now to position themselves to be in compliance by the end of this calendar year.

Here is a brief review of the new requirements:

Under the FCC’s new rules, digital television stations—including digital LPTV stations and digital Class A television stations—will have the same EAS obligations as analog television stations. Likewise, digital radio stations—including digital LPFM stations—will have the same obligations as analog radio stations. Specifically, all digital broadcasters:

• Must participate in all national EAS activations.
• May—but, like analog stations, are not required to—participate in state and local EAS activations. Digital stations choosing to transmit state and local EAS messages must, like analog stations, comply with the EAS rules governing those messages.
• Must provide EAS messages to viewers and listeners of all digital program streams, whether those program streams are free over-the-air or subscription-based.

Digital audio and television broadcasters have flexibility to determine the method they will use to distribute EAS messages on all program streams (including, for example, a weather channel or doppler radar channel), as long as all listeners and viewers receive the EAS message on the channel that they are listening to or watching. For example, digital stations may separately transmit EAS messages on all program streams or may transmit EAS messages on one stream and force tune all receivers to that stream. The FCC specifically declined to mandate force tuning.

The FCC specifically excluded data streams from this requirement.

• Must transmit EAS test messages.
• Must comply with the new requirements by December 31, 2006.

Stations with questions about the new EAS requirements should contact communications counsel. If you have any questions about the material in this article, please contact Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, L.L.P. at (919) 839-0300.