NAB Seeks Voluntary Measures, Not More Rules, for EAS

Rather than further regulation, NAB urges the FCC to continue to work with broadcasters to implement voluntary measures for improving EAS.
In comments to the commission, NAB states it supports many of the agency’s proposals to enhance public warning, including incorporating digital technologies and the adoption of a common protocol language.
“We also applaud the commission’s continued efforts to ensure that all Americans, including those with hearing and visual disabilities, as well as non-English speaking persons, have access to emergency information,” it stated.
“However, NAB urges the commission to refrain from requiring audio transcription of EAS messages because it is a de facto real-time captioning requirement that we believe, at this stage, would more likely impede the timely dissemination of emergency information.”
A proposal by the Minority Media Telecommunications Council for a multilingual emergency alert system, previously reported, raises several statutory and practical issues that need to be addressed, said NAB, which added the FCC should refrain from implementing that as proposed.