Station Compliance›FCC Watch

Nothing changed about what your station has to do this week. The § 11.35(d) security date stood at September 29, with no extension and no waiver.

What did happen is the first round of comments on the other half of the same FCC order — the Further Notice proposing, among other things, that EAS could be run in software rather than on a dedicated box. Comments were due August 31, and the large filers all showed up.

Who said what

• NAB supports software-based EAS in principle — a trusted source running on curated hardware — and opposes cloud-dependent EAS. It called the proposal to cut the window for fixing an EAS software defect from 60 days to 72 hours unrealistic. (Radio Ink)
• iHeartMedia and New York Public Radio endorsed software EAS; NYPR asked the Commission to act "expeditiously." NPR was supportive but against new mandates. (Radio World)
• APTS and PBS want software EAS permitted but not required, with "rigorous certification and safeguards." (TV Tech)

What it means for a small station

Nothing to do, and nothing to buy. These are proposals. No rule has been adopted, and nothing here changes the box in your rack today.

The one to keep an eye on is the 72-hour fix window. If the Commission adopts anything like it, a station without an engineer on call would have three days to apply a fix to its EAS equipment once one is issued. That is the same patching discipline § 11.35(d) already asks for, on a much shorter clock. Reply comments were due September 29.