§11.11. The Emergency Alert System (EAS).
47 C.F.R. § 11.11
The EAS is composed of analog radio broadcast stations including AM, FM, and Low-power FM (LPFM) stations; digital audio broadcasting (DAB) stations, including digital AM, FM, and Low-power FM stations; television (TV) broadcast stations, including Class A and low power TV (LPTV) stations; analog cable systems; digital cable systems which are defined for purposes of this part only as the portion of a cable system that delivers channels in digital format to subscribers at the input of a Unidirectional Digital Cable Product or other navigation device; wireline video systems; wireless cable systems which may consist of Broadband Radio Service (BRS), or Educational Broadband Service (EBS) stations; DBS services, as defined in § 25.701(a) of this chapter (including certain Ku-band Fixed-Satellite Service Direct to Home providers); and SDARS, as defined in § 25.201 of this chapter. These entities are referred to collectively as EAS Participants in this part, and are subject to this part, except as otherwise provided herein. At a minimum EAS Participants must use a common EAS protocol, as defined in § 11.31, to send and receive emergency alerts, and comply with the requirements set forth in § 11.56, in accordance with the following tables:
Analog cable systems are subject to the requirements in Table 2 below. Analog cable systems serving fewer than 5,000 subscribers from a headend may either provide the National level EAS message on all programmed channels including the required testing, or comply with the requirements in Table 2.
Wireless cable systems are subject to the requirements in Table 3 below. Wireless cable systems serving fewer than 5,000 subscribers from a single transmission site must either provide the National level EAS message on all programmed channels including the required testing, or comply with the requirements in Table 3.
Digital cable systems and Wireline Video Systems must comply with the requirements in Table 4 below. Digital cable systems and Wireline Video Systems serving fewer than 5,000 subscribers from a headend must either provide the National level EAS message on all programmed channels including the required testing, or comply with the requirements in Table 4.
Analog class D non-commercial educational FM stations as defined in § 73.506 of this chapter, digital class D non-commercial educational FM stations, analog LPFM stations as defined in §§ 73.811 and 73.853 of this chapter, digital LPFM stations, and LPTV stations as defined in § 74.701(b) of this chapter are not required to comply with § 11.32. Television broadcast translator stations, as defined in § 74.701(a) of this chapter, which entirely rebroadcast the programming of other broadcast televisions stations, are not required to comply with the requirements of this part. FM broadcast booster stations as defined in § 74.1201(f) of this chapter and FM translator stations as defined in § 74.1201(a) of this chapter which entirely rebroadcast the programming of other local FM broadcast stations are not required to comply with the requirements of this part. International broadcast stations as defined in § 73.701 of this chapter are not required to comply with the requirements of this part. Analog and digital broadcast stations that operate as satellites or repeaters of a hub station (or common studio or control point if there is no hub station) and rebroadcast 100 percent of the programming of the hub station (or common studio or control point) may satisfy the requirements of this part through the use of a single set of EAS equipment at the hub station (or common studio or control point) which complies with §§ 11.32 and 11.33.
For purposes of the EAS, Broadband Radio Service (BRS) and Educational Broadband Service (EBS) stations operated as part of wireless cable systems in accordance with subpart M of part 27 of this chapter are defined as follows:
A “wireless cable system” is a collection of channels in the BRS or EBS used to provide video programming services to subscribers. The channels may be licensed to or leased by the wireless cable system operator.
A “wireless cable operator” is the entity that has acquired the right to use the channels of a wireless cable system for transmission of programming to subscribers.
Local franchise authorities may use any EAS codes authorized by the FCC in any agreements.
[Reserved]
Notes, amendments, and revision history
Amendments
[63 FR 29662, June 1, 1998, as amended at 65 FR 7639, Feb. 15, 2000; 65 FR 21657, Apr. 24, 2000; 65 FR 30001, May 10, 2000; 65 FR 34406, May 30, 2000; 67 FR 18506, Apr. 16, 2002; 69 FR 72031, Dec. 10, 2004; 70 FR 19315, Apr. 13, 2005; 70 FR 71031, Nov. 25, 2005; 71 FR 76220, Dec. 20, 2006; 72 FR 62132, Nov. 2, 2007; 77 FR 16699, Mar. 22, 2012; 89 FR 26792, Apr. 16, 2024; 91 FR 2872, Jan. 23, 2026; 91 FR 1404, Jan. 14, 2026]
Authority
Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151, 154 (i) and (n), 303(r), 544(g), 606, 1201, and 1206.
Source
Source: 59 FR 67092, Dec. 28, 1994, unless otherwise noted.
Amendments
[63 FR 29662, June 1, 1998, as amended at 65 FR 7639, Feb. 15, 2000; 65 FR 21657, Apr. 24, 2000; 65 FR 30001, May 10, 2000; 65 FR 34406, May 30, 2000; 67 FR 18506, Apr. 16, 2002; 69 FR 72031, Dec. 10, 2004; 70 FR 19315, Apr. 13, 2005; 70 FR 71031, Nov. 25, 2005; 71 FR 76220, Dec. 20, 2006; 72 FR 62132, Nov. 2, 2007; 77 FR 16699, Mar. 22, 2012; 89 FR 26792, Apr. 16, 2024; 91 FR 2872, Jan. 23, 2026; 91 FR 1404, Jan. 14, 2026]