In its report on the results of the October 2023 nationwide alerting test (see earlier story), the FCC said 96.6 percent of Emergency Alert System (EAS) participants – radio and television stations, cable television systems, direct broadcast satellite, satellite digital audio radio service, digital audio broadcasting systems, and wireline video systems – reported successful receipt and retransmission of the nationwide test. That compares to 87.1 percent in 2021.
The agency said the improvement is likely due to “initiation of the 2023 test alert via Common Alerting Protocol, which introduced additional resiliency that was not available during the over-the-air-only 2021 nationwide test.”
However, some operational readiness failures prevented some participants from receiving or retransmitting the test alert. While test participants reported less than one-third as many performance complications as compared to 2021, more test participants reported equipment configuration issues and equipment failures.
Other reported complications included performance issues, audio quality issues, alerting source issues, and clock errors. The Public Safety and Homeland Security bureau recommends the FCC adopt rules to improve the operational readiness of EAS participants.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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