A draft order circulated to FCC Commissioners on March 3 would make technical changes to the Emergency Alert System, including addressing a request from the National Weather Service to harmonize some event codes, agency sources told TRDaily today. The item follows up on a notice of proposed rulemaking released in July 2015 in PS docket 15-94 that proposed to add three new EAS event codes that cover extreme wind and storm surges. The draft order also would revise the territorial boundaries of the geographic location codes for two offshore marine areas, as the NWS had sought. In comments filed on the NPRM, broadcasters and AT&T, Inc., said they supported the new codes, while an equipment maker opposed them, saying they would be too costly to implement (TRDaily, Sept. 14, 2015).

Courtesy TRDaily