WASHINGTON—Any broadcasters still needing to file Form 1 for the nationwide EAS test on Sept. 27 might be cutting it pretty close.
Lauren Lynch Flick at law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman writes in the company’s Comm Law Center newsletter that broadcasters who have begun filing have found challenges dealing with the modified Form 1. It requires new information not requested when the system was created last year. She also cited a revamped Emergency Test Reporting System with some unfamiliar features users that does not recognize prior log-in codes.
The new ERTS relies on log-in information from an entirely separate FCC database, the Commission Registration System (CORES), she wrote. This means broadcasters have to establish an FCC username and password in CORES before they can begin filing. Also, the CORES system confers control of the licensee’s Federal Registration Number to the first person to lay claim to it. She writes that every station owner should establish a CORES username and password and claim the Admin role for their FRN, even if someone else will be making the ETRS filing.
Once the Admin role has been claimed, the person making the ETRS filing, if different, will need their own CORES username and password and request that the FRN Admin associate the license’s FRN with their account. All of this is necessary to draft the Form 1.
Filers can then log into the ETRS with their CORES information. Information from last year’s nationwide test will fill in where relevant, but new information like providing the location of EAS receivers is also required. Another new step is the instruction to file a separate Form 1 for each encoder, decoder or combination unit; a combination unit can be completed with just a single Form 1.
The deadline for filing the Form 1 for the nationwide EAS test is Monday, Aug. 28. Read her post here.
