The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) has published a new document to help cable operators with the adoption of Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) for the broadcast of warnings and information through the Emergency Alert System (EAS).
The SCTE 179 2012, "Recommended Practice on Upgrading EAS to CAP Compliance," publication lists the key steps needed for successful CAP upgrades and includes a technical and operational checklist to assist in preparations for the delivery of CAP messages.
Since 1999, all multichannel video program distributors have been required to participate in the Federal Communications Commission's EAS, which allows federal, state and local officials to issue emergency alerts.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has previously announced that all EAS participants would be required to support the CAP standard by June 30, 2012 and the document, which is available for download free of charge in the Standards section of the SCTE website, www.scte.org, is designed to help operators meet that deadline.
