The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) has granted an extension of an Emergency Alert System (EAS) deadline. This extension is in response to a joint request filed by REC Networks and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) requesting that the FCC extend the December 12, 2023, deadline to comply with the requirement that EAS Participants prioritize the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)-formatted version of an EAS message when they receive a legacy version and a CAP-formatted version of the same alert. REC and NAB argue that additional time to comply with this requirement is necessary due to unexpected delays in the delivery of a firmware update by Sage Alerting Systems (Sage), an EAS equipment vendor. The Bureau has granted the joint request to extend the compliance deadline by 90 days, i.e., until March 11, 2024, for EAS Participants that are Sage customers.
