FCC’s Sage EAS Equipment Upgrade Deadline is March 11

posted on 3.04.2024

Texas broadcasters using Sage Alerting Systems ENDECs are coming up against a March 11 FCC deadline to install a software update to their EAS equipment.

The update is necessary to implement various operational changes adopted by the FCC in 2023.

These include prioritized Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) polling.

“When a station receives an over-the-air EAS alert, it must wait at least 10 seconds to determine if a CAP alert has been sent through the IPAWS system and, if it has, the station should rebroadcast that internet-delivered CAP alert rather than the one received over the air,” said attorney David Oxenford of TAB Associate member law firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer.

Other changes include the text for the Presidential alert event code and a new script for the National Periodic Test. 

The importance of keeping ENDEC software updated was underscored by the experience of some stations across the country that failed to receive the Oct. 4, 2023, national period test of EAS.

“Sage was delayed in pushing out its equipment update,” Oxenford said so the FCC gave users of that equipment until March 11 to comply with the requirement.

Stations with other manufacturers’ EAS ENDECS such as Gorman Redlich and Digital Alert systems were required to have updated their ENDECs by December of last year. 

Questions? Contact TAB’s Michael Schneider or call (512) 322-9944.

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