Comment Re:well, it IS a "test" (Score 1) 210
Its not like its TV stations are going to pop up messages saying "ALERT! EMERGENCY! OH MY GOD! EVERYTHINGS OVER!" with no additional information. Its going to be like the EAS test that happens every single week. Not overriding video is IIRC tolerable under the FCC requirements. The audio message will be there like always.
Part of the problem, and the reason the FCC and FEMA are trying to get the work out early, is that the video text crawl will NOT indicate that it is a test. The audio portion will, but the text portion will say "A Primary Entry Point station has issued a National Emergency Action Notification for the United States beginning at 2:00 PM EST, valid until 3:00 PM EST"
This automatically generated text will show up on every TV screen whether connected to cable, satellite, or off-air antenna. If you are not listening to the sound, how would you know it is only a test? This is also the same text message you will see if you subscribe to one of the internet or cell phone text EAS services. There will be no indication of "only a test" anywhere on it.
YIAABE (Yes, I am a broadcast engineer)