Nationwide EAS Test Results Show Better Performance but Less Participant Reporting
A higher percentage of emergency alert system participants received the alert signal during the 2017 national EAS test (see 1709270071) than in 2016, but more than 1,000 fewer EAS participants sent their receipt and transmission results to the agency afterward,…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
and more TV stations didn't get the alert and so didn't pass it on, said initial results Thursday from the FCC Public Safety Bureau. “Performance appears to have improved over what we observed in the 2016 nationwide EAS test,” said a public notice. This year, 95.8 percent of test participants successfully received the simulation, vs. 95.4 percent. But 19,069 broadcasters provided information afterward, compared to 20,389. More participants received the alert through the Integrated Public Alert Warning System in 2017, 59.3 percent v. 43.5 percent. Only participants that received the alert through IPAWS were able to send out Spanish-language alerts, and 207 test participants did so in 2017, up from 75 in 2016. The results could change with further analysis, the PN said. “Together with [the Federal Emergency Management Agency], the Bureau will continue to analyze the results of the 2017 nationwide EAS test and release more detailed findings when available.”