EAS Revamp Pulled From FCC Agenda

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's Emergency Alert System (EAS) revamp has been pulled from the Dec. 15 meeting agenda.

In fact, the FCC has dispensed with almost all of the items that had been on its Dec. 15 meeting agenda for vote, either having already been voted or in the case of EAS and one other, removing them from the lineup.

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That will provide time for some goodbyes since it is expected to be the last meeting of Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel and potentially FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. The current January meeting is scheduled for Jan. 26 — when Wheeler would no longer be chairman and probably will no longer be at the commission.

An FCC source said the EAS item had been in flux.

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The EAS item according to the FCC, "improves alerting organization at the state and local levels, builds stronger community-based alerting exercise programs, and protects the EAS against accidental misuse and malicious intrusion."

It was also planning to vote on an EAS further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on "proposals to leverage technological advances to improve alerting and additional measures to preserve EAS security."

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.