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Fcc Sets Comment Deadlines For Eas And Dirs Proceedings

Leo Migdal
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fcc sets comment deadlines for eas and dirs proceedings

It is time for our look at September’s regulatory dates and deadlines to which broadcasters should be paying attention – and the deadline that probably is most important to all commercial broadcasters is not... That, of course, is the deadline for the payment of annual regulatory fees – which must be made before the federal government’s October 1 start of the new fiscal year. We expect an announcement of the final decision on the amount of those fees for various broadcasters, and the deadlines for payment, in the next few days. Keep on the alert for that announcement. Below is our summary of the other dates affecting broadcasters this September, including the effective date of the Emergency Alert System’s (“EAS”) new Missing and Endangered Persons event code, comment and other pleading deadlines... September 8 is the effective date of the new EAS Missing and Endangered Persons event code to be used by all EAS Participants, including broadcast stations.

In August 2024, the FCC adopted a Report and Order creating a new EAS event code for persons over the age of 17 who are missing or abducted from states, territories, or tribal communities... September 9 is the deadline for comments responding to the FCC’s Direct Final Rule repealing 98 broadcast rules that the FCC identified in the Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding as obsolete, outdated, or unnecessary. The deleted rules will become effective on October 20 unless substantive comments objecting to the deletions are filed, in which case the FCC will provide additional notice of the changes and ask for and... The deleted rules include over-the-air subscription TV approval procedures, the requirement that radio and TV stations be equipped with specific instruments for determining station power levels, several international broadcast station technical requirements, rules mandating... September 18 is the deadline for comments responding to the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing significant revisions to the FCC’s procedures under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. The proposed changes are aimed at streamlining the process for determining if constructing communications facilities, including broadcast towers, will affect the environment and historical sites.

Reply comments are due October 3. Comments must be filed by Oct. 2 and reply comments by Nov. 3 When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commission has set deadlines for comments on its efforts to modernize the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS). In August, the FCC adopted a Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Third Further Notice) that seeks comment on proposals that would ensure the system is collecting information useful to disaster response without imposing... The Third Further Notice set deadlines for filing comments and reply comments at 30 and 60 days, respectively, after publication in the Federal Register. That means comments must be filed on or before October 2, 2025, and reply comments must be filed on or before November 3, 2025, the agency said. On November 25, 2025, the FCC released the Tentative Agenda for the December Open Meeting, scheduled for December 18, 2025 at 10:30 AM. The Commission

On November 13, 2025, the FCC released the Agenda for the November Open Meeting, scheduled for November 20, 2025 at 10:30 AM. The meeting can On November 13, 2025, the FCC released a Public Notice providing additional guidance ahead of the resumption of operations and the extension of filing deadlines. As expected, the FCC advanced several items impacting broadcasters at its August Open Meeting, including reform of the Emergency Alert System, modernization of the Disaster Information Reporting System, and the elimination of nearly 100... The proceedings are part of the broader “Build America” agenda presented by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who described these changes as essential to “clearing the way for new infrastructure builds” while keeping emergency communications... The Commission formally adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to reexamine both EAS and Wireless Emergency Alerts, with a focus on improving resilience, clarity, and accessibility.

Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Chief Zenji Nakazawa introduced the item, which asks whether EAS and WEA systems are meeting the expectations of both the public and alert originators, and whether a redesign... Commissioner Anna Gomez emphasized the need to modernize these systems in response to recent scenarios, like tsunami threats in Hawaii and Alaska, particularly language requirements. “As we look ahead at how to improve our alerting capabilities, I urge others to continue to hold this FCC accountable to its promise to ensure more people are reached in an emergency, regardless... Commissioner Olivia Trusty added that lessons from recent flooding events in Texas, Kentucky, and North Carolina demonstrate the urgency of delivering timely, targeted alerts. The August, 2025 FCC Open Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 7, 2025. This is one of the largest agendas for an Open Meeting that we have ever seen.

This agenda does include some items that do impact radio and television broadcasting, which we will explain further in this report. The FCC has released circulation drafts at this time. Until any of these items are adopted at the open meeting, these are not yet set in stone, including the rule changes that will result. The items that have little to no impact to broadcasting that are on the agenda include: Revamping NEPA Review to Accelerate Infrastructure Development. The FCC is considering a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would examine whether the FCC’s environmental rules comport with the amended National Environmental Policy Act, accelerate the federal permitting process, further a national...

Streamlining Space Bureau Reviews. The FCC will consider a Second Report and Order (R&O) that advances opportunities in the space economy to expedite the application process for space and earth stations, removing barriers for modifications and to remove... It is time for our look at September’s regulatory dates and deadlines to which broadcasters should be paying attention – and the deadline that probably is most important to all commercial broadcasters is not... That, of course, is the deadline for the payment of annual regulatory fees – which must be made before the federal government’s October 1 start of the new fiscal year. We expect an announcement of the final decision on the amount of those fees for various broadcasters, and the deadlines for payment, in the next few days. Keep on the alert for that announcement.

Below is our summary of the other dates affecting broadcasters this September, including the effective date of the Emergency Alert System’s (“EAS”) new Missing and Endangered Persons event code, comment and other pleading deadlines... September 8 is the effective date of the new EAS Missing and Endangered Persons event code to be used by all EAS Participants, including broadcast stations. In August 2024, the FCC adopted a Report and Order creating a new EAS event code for persons over the age of 17 who are missing or abducted from states, territories, or tribal communities... September 9 is the deadline for comments responding to the FCC’s Direct Final Rule repealing 98 broadcast rules that the FCC identified in the Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding as obsolete, outdated, or unnecessary. The deleted rules will become effective on October 20 unless substantive comments objecting to the deletions are filed, in which case the FCC will provide additional notice of the changes and ask for and... The deleted rules include over-the-air subscription TV approval procedures, the requirement that radio and TV stations be equipped with specific instruments for determining station power levels, several international broadcast station technical requirements, rules mandating...

September 18 is the deadline for comments responding to the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing significant revisions to the FCC’s procedures under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. The proposed changes are aimed at streamlining the process for determining if constructing communications facilities, including broadcast towers, will affect the environment and historical sites. Reply comments are due October 3. Find out more about Lexology or get in touch by visiting our About page. While May is one of those months that does not have any routine, scheduled FCC filing deadlines, there are still a number of regulatory dates and deadlines that are worthy of note for broadcasters. As detailed below, this includes comment deadlines in several FCC rulemaking proceedings, the effective date of the FCC’s application fee increases (including fees for broadcast station applications), the deadline for LPTV to Class A...

As always, remember to keep in touch with your legal and regulatory advisors to make sure that you don’t overlook any other regulatory deadlines we may have missed here or ones that are specific... One May date with potential broad interest is May 23 – the effective date of the FCC’s January Order increasing its application fees by an average of more than 17%, including those for broadcast... We previously provided more details on our Broadcast Law Blog on the increases and suggested that, where possible (e.g., in connection with internal company reorganizations or for planned technical changes), broadcasters file applications as... The EAS rules also have broad application. May 2 is the deadline for comments responding to the NAB’s petition for rulemaking requesting that the FCC amend its Emergency Alert Service (EAS) rules to permit EAS participants, including broadcasters, to use software-based... The NAB requests that the FCC act promptly on its request because one of the two remaining legacy EAS device vendors recently decided to cease production of its EAS device due to difficulties in...

The NAB states that using software-based devices would safely and reliably mitigate these issues and do so quickly as the software-based system can operate on many legacy EAS devices. There is another emergency-related deadline this month, though it may be postponed. May 27 is the tentative deadline for all commercial and noncommercial full-power TV, Class A TV, LPTV, and TV translator stations to begin using the station’s secondary audio channel to provide aural descriptions of... This requirement has been consistently delayed since being adopted by the FCC in 2013 because there is no technology to provide automated conversion of this graphic information into speech. In November 2024, the NAB filed a petition for rulemaking proposing that the FCC allow TV stations to comply with the FCC’s audible crawl rule by providing “textual crawls that provide emergency information duplicative... See our discussion here, here, and here.

As the FCC has not acted on the NAB’s proposed resolution, look to see if another extension is granted before the May 27 deadline.

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