Nationwide emergency alert test: Tuesday, November 17, 2026

Will your NextGen TV show it?

Every TV and radio station has to carry the alert on everything it broadcasts, including its NextGen TV channels. Whether you see it on a NextGen TV channel depends on that channel and your equipment:

• Regular (ATSC 1.0) channels: the test appears as usual on any TV with an antenna. That’s what most people watch.
• NextGen TV channels that aren’t encrypted: the test should appear like any other program.
• Encrypted NextGen TV channels: only devices certified to decrypt them can play the channel at all, so only they can show the alert. Tuners that aren’t certified, like the HDHomeRun, can’t. Some certified boxes also need an internet connection to unlock the channel. In tests Weigel Broadcasting reported to the FCC, five of seven standalone NextGen TV boxes failed to reliably show encrypted channels, including alerts, while offline; the TVs it tested did. The group that runs NextGen TV encryption (A3SA) says those problems come from how specific devices were built, and that most NextGen TV sets handle encrypted alerts without the internet.

Simple fix if a NextGen TV channel goes blank: switch to the station’s regular channel. The alert airs there too. How NextGen TV encryption works →

Which stations encrypt, by market

71 of the 94 markets with NextGen TV have at least one station sending an encrypted NextGen TV signal, according to a list SiliconDust filed with the FCC on October 5, 2026 (observed October 4). It covers stations, not individual channels, and stations can change it at any time.

The argument over encryption and the test

SiliconDust, which makes the HDHomeRun, asked station groups to switch off NextGen TV encryption from November 10 through the test, and asked the FCC to remind broadcasters that alerts must reach viewers on every program stream. It plans to watch selected NextGen TV channels during the test and report what it finds to the FCC.

The National Association of Broadcasters told the FCC that switching encryption off would make the test less realistic, since stations would operate differently in a real emergency, and that reception problems come from particular devices rather than the alert system. As of late October, no station group had agreed to SiliconDust’s request.

If something goes wrong, report it

The FCC invites viewers who notice problems during the test, such as no message, no sound, or a channel that went blank, to report them through its Public Safety Support Center. Note the station, the channel number, whether it was a NextGen TV channel, and the device you were using.

Questions