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                         Before the
              Federal Communications Commission
                   Washington, D.C. 20554

In the Matter of                        )
                              )    
Amendment of Part 11                    )    RM-10425
of the Commission's Rules               )    
(Emergency Alert System)           )    File No. EB-03-TS-
153

                            ORDER

     Adopted:  August 11, 2003                    Released:  
August 13, 2003

By the Chief, Enforcement Bureau:

1.        In this Order, we dismiss as premature and without 
   prejudice Lawson  Associates's (``Lawson'')  Petition for 
   Rulemaking  (``Petition'')  filed  on   March  18,  2002.  
   Lawson proposes that we amend Part 11 of the Commission's 
   Rules (``Rules'') relating to the  Emergency Alert System 
   (``EAS'').1  As  noted  below,  Lawson's  Petition  comes 
   before us at a time that  the Commission's Media Security 
   and Reliability Council (``MSRC'')2 is examining numerous 
   issues related  to  public  warning, including  the  EAS.  
   After we receive and review MSRC's final recommendations, 
   we will, if appropriate, release a Notice of Inquiry that 
   may culminate in  a rulemaking concerning  public warning 
   and the current EAS regulatory framework.

2.        Lawson, an  equipment manufacturer, asks  that the 
   Commission  permit  cable  and   wireless  cable  systems 
   serving fewer than 5,000 subscribers to fulfill their EAS 
   obligations by employing  EAS decoders that  will ``pass-
   through'' full EAS audio and video bulletins by switching 
   all channels  that do  not carry  those bulletins  to one 
   that does.  In response to the Public Notice issued April 
   23, 2002, seeking comments on the Petition, three persons 
   or entities, apart from  Lawson, filed comments  or reply 
   comments.3  

3.        Among  the  national security-related  duties  the 
   Commission discharges are implementation  and enforcement 
   of the EAS, which  provides the President  the capability 
   to provide  immediate communications  and information  to 
   the American  public at  the national,  state, and  local 
   levels during  periods  of  national  emergency.4   Cable 
   operators, like their broadcasting 

     counterparts, must be capable of providing EAS messages 
to their subscribers.5

4.        Since the First Report and Order in 1994, at which 
   time the  Commission moved  from the  Emergency Broadcast 
   System or EBS to the EAS, the Commission has examined and 
   refined cable operators's  EAS obligations  as technology 
   and other  constraints have  changed.  The  Commission is 
   cognizant of  the issues  facing  small cable  operators, 
   which it has defined, with respect to EAS obligations, as 
   those with  5,000  or  fewer  subscribers  per  headend.6  
   Consequently, the  Commission  authorized  the  grant  of 
   waivers to  small  cable  operators,  on  a  case-by-case 
   basis,  where  circumstances  prevent   them  from  fully 
   complying with their EAS obligations.7

5.   The Commission's Second Report and Order provided small 
   cable operators with two options for complying with their 
   EAS obligations  by  October  1,  2002: (A)  Provide  the 
   national   level   EAS   message    on   all   programmed 
   channels¾including the required  testing; or  (B) Install 
   EAS equipment  and provide  a video  interrupt and  audio 
   alert on all programmed channels and  EAS audio and video 
   on at  least one  programmed channel.8   Lawson asks  the 
   Commission to  permit cable  and  wireless cable  systems 
   serving fewer than 5,000 subscribers to fulfill their EAS 
   obligations (under  option A)  by employing  EAS decoders 
   that will  ``pass-through''  full  EAS  audio  and  video 
   bulletins by  switching all  channels that  do not  carry 
   those bulletins to one that does.

6.   Following September  11, 2001, as part  of its response 
   to the attacks on our country, the Commission established 
   the MSRC.  On May 16, 2003, subsequent to the issuance of 
   the Public Notice in  this proceeding, the  MSRC's Public 
   Communications  and   Safety  Working   Group  (``Working 
   Group'') issued an Interim  Report in which,  among other 
   things, it  called  for  a  broad  assessment  of  public 
   warning systems, including  the EAS.9   In June  of 2003, 
   the MSRC  adopted  the  Working  Group's  recommendations 
   regarding the EAS.  The Working Group  continues to study 
   public  warning   issues,   and   may   make   additional 
   recommendations which MSRC will  vote on at  its November 
   meeting.  After that time, we will, if appropriate, issue 
   a Notice  of Inquiry  based, among  other things,  on the 
   recommendations.    We   encourage   Lawson  and   others 
   interested in the vitality of the EAS  to provide us with 
   their comments on  how we can  improve public  warning in 
   general and the  EAS in particular  at that  point.10  In 
   the meantime,  we  find  it  premature  to  engage  in  a 
   rulemaking pertaining to one subpart of the EAS.  

7.   Accordingly, IT  IS ORDERED that, pursuant  to Sections 
   4, 303(r), 624(g), and  706 of the Communications  Act of 
   1934,  as  amended,11  and  Sections   0.111,  0.311  and 
   1.401(e) of the  Rules, Lawson Associates's  Petition for 
   Rulemaking (RM-10425) IS DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. 

               
                         FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION



                         David H. Solomon
                         Chief, Enforcement Bureau

_________________________

1 See 47 C.F.R. §§ 11.1¾11.61.

2 The  MSRC is a  Federal Advisory Committee that  draws its 
members from industry.  For more information about the MSRC, 
visit http://www.mediasecurity.org/.

3 Public Notice,  Report No. 2544 (released  Apr. 23, 2002); 
Commenters included the American Cable Association (supports 
Petition),  BekTek, Inc.  (opposes Petition),  Michael Black 
(opposes Petition), and Lawson (supports Petition).
 
4 See  47 C.F.R. §  11.1.  For a  history of the  EAS, which 
originated with the Control  of Electromagnetic Radiation or 
CONELRAD system  of 1951 that President  Truman established, 
see Amendment  of Part  73, Subpart  G, of  the Commission's 
Rules Regarding  the EBS,  10 FCC  Rcd 1786,  1788-89 (1994) 
(``First  Report and  Order''), recon.  granted in  part and 
denied in part, 10 FCC Rcd 11,494 (1995).

5 See  47 U.S.C.  § 544(g); 47  C.F.R. §§  11.1¾11.61, 76.3, 
76.1711;  Amendment of  Part  11 of  the Commission's  Rules 
Regarding the EAS,  17 FCC Rcd 4055  (2002) (``February 2002 
Report and Order''); Amendment of Part 73, Subpart G, of the 
Commission's  Rules  Regarding  the  EBS, 14  FCC  Rcd  1273 
(1997); Amendment of Part 73, Subpart G, of the Commission's 
Rules Regarding the EBS, 12  FCC Rcd 15,503 (1997) (``Second 
Report and Order''); First Report and Order.

6 Second Report and Order, 12 FCC Rcd at 15,507-19; February 
2002 Report  and Order, 17  FCC Rcd at 4056,  4082-83 (e.g., 
small  cable  operators  permitted   to  fulfill  their  EAS 
obligations  by installing  EAS decoders,  rather than  both 
encoders and decoders).

7 See 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.111, 0.204(b), 0.311; Second Report and 
Order, 12  FCC Rcd  at 15,513.  We  have been  issuing term-
limited waivers.  See,  e.g., Pinpoint Communications, Inc., 
DA 03-2519 (Enf. Bur., released July 30, 2003).

8 See 47 C.F.R. § 11.11; Second Report and Order, 12 FCC Rcd 
at 15,503-04, 15,507-19.  

9 MSRC, Public Communications and Safety Working Group, 
Interim Report (released May 16, 2003).

10  See also  May  19,  2003, Letter  from  Robert M.  Hill, 
proposing creation of a National Readiness Network.
  
11 47 U.S.C. §§ 154, 303(r), 544(g), 606; 47 C.F.R. §§ 
0.111, 0.311, 1.401(e).