Software could soon replace the EAS box at radio stations, but broadcasters want the FCC to move carefully. The NAB, state broadcasters associations, and Sage Alerting Systems each asked the Commission to keep software EAS voluntary and to phase in changes.
NAB, 49 state broadcasters associations, and Sage Alerting Systems filed reply comments September 29 in the FCC’s proceeding on modernizing the Emergency Alert System. The filings respond to the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking the FCC released in June and to comments filed at the end of August.
The state associations and Sage back allowing software EAS as an option, and NAB said the vast majority of commenters support granting its 2025 petition. NAB said the question is no longer whether to allow it but how best to implement it.
NAB opposed a request from Digital Alert Systems to delay authorization until the FCC defines a broad “certification boundary” that could cover a station’s entire technology stack. NAB said DAS previously called its petition premature and procedurally inappropriate, and suggested DAS’s position may be colored by its concern that software EAS “would not affect all suppliers evenly.”
For certification, NAB supports adapting the framework used for existing EAS hardware, with review by a telecommunications certification body or self-certification by providers. Sage said software and standalone devices should meet the same protocol standards and that no new level of certification or special security testing is needed.
The state associations also asked the FCC to keep the existing 60-day period for repairing or replacing defective EAS equipment, instead of a proposed 72-hour deadline for software, as NAB did. They said diagnosis can involve station staff, software providers, vendors, and outside engineers.
NAB said it no longer insists that software EAS be located at a local facility, citing public television hub systems and SiriusXM’s satellite architecture, as long as the participant keeps control and EAS keeps working if internet or physical access is lost. Both NAB and the state associations support requiring valid digital signatures on CAP alerts, with phased implementation and clear guidance. Authenticating legacy alerts is harder, they said, because the National Weather Service, the source of most EAS alerts, does not digitally sign its legacy transmissions. NAB said the record does not yet support a mandate.
NAB said it would not object to a universal alert identifier if FEMA/IPAWS generates it, while the state associations said more development is needed first. Both want CAP circles and polygons and alert symbols to remain voluntary, and NAB opposed requests to require polygon use. Sage said polygons will not eliminate alerts reaching outside an affected area and suggested limiting coordinate precision to four decimal places.
Sage also opposed a minimum implementation period for software EAS. It said the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions appears to have included software EAS in a request for at least 48 months.
