FCC Expands Post-Matthew Reporting Requirements

The FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau has expanded the Hurricane Mathew-affected areas from which it wants status reports from communications networks.

The FCC activated the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) Friday (Oct. 7) in various counties in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. DIRS is a voluntary web-based reporting system.

Following reports of dangerous flooding in other areas that could extend into Monday or even Tuesday, the FCC has added new counties in North Carolina and South Carolina as well as a number of cities in Virgina to the list.

Cable operators, broadcasters and others in following areas were asked to start filing reports on the status of equipment, power, restoration efforts and access to fuel starting at 10 a.m. Monday (ct. 10) and each subsequent day by 10 a.m. until the DIRS is deactivated:

North Carolina: Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Hoke, Hyde, Johnston, Moore, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender, Robeson, Tyrrell, Wake Counties

South Carolina: Horry County

Virginia: Cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.