Anti-loud commercial law passes the House

We first heard about the CALM (Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation) Act a few months ago, and while at the same time the ATSC has released a standard in the effort to reduce the problem, we're afraid that this is one law that does make sense. Unlike the new standard volume level, the CALM Act that passed in the House dictates the relative volume level of ads compared to the programming. Assuming the Act passes the Senate as well, advertisers will have one year to adopt industry technology that'll level out the volume of the ad. While the idea seems to make sense, you'll have to forgive us if we wait to send a thank you email until after we see how this actually works.

[wryker Posted Dec 22nd 2009 3:11PM]

What? Can't hear you - a commercial is on for the Rosetta Stone...

[bobthemagicman Posted Dec 22nd 2009 3:12PM]

@bobthemagicman
Crap never mind :(

[JBerg Posted Dec 22nd 2009 4:36PM]

@bobthemagicman :

First jackass? Yes, that's fair. You win.

[dmccall Posted Dec 22nd 2009 6:19PM]

Good question. I wonder if they say that the volume cannot exceed 120% of the program's spike volume...or if it has to be below 120 if "50" is the mean volume...which also leads to concerns about whether or not volume will be normalized in order to ascertain a reference point sound level.

I also wonder just how they intend to enforce whatever standard is set. Will local cable ads be included? Is this something that is left to the cable provider to handle or is it the content provider (network or local affiliate???) If the network is sending down loud ads, is it the local network affiliate or is it the cable network's job to standardize volume? And what do you do about those local cable-only ads that have a ton of background noise? Are they covered under new standards?

[puker33 Posted Dec 23rd 2009 12:35AM]

I feel like loud commercials have got increasingly worse in the last year or so! I literally end up with headaches if I watch TV too long!

This law is exciting news to me!

[Brian Posted Dec 23rd 2009 1:53AM]

I hate having loud commercials or even channels. In my area with Comcast the HD channels are lower in sound then the SD channels.

But my question is this, where is it in the United States Constitution that gives the Federal government the authority on an issue like this? Which is a question for almost all our Federal laws.

[MJGAMER 1991 XBL Posted Dec 24th 2009 9:33AM]

@Brian

It's called the Communications Act of 1934, which pretty much lets the FCC do whatever the hell they want with any electronic device that transmits or receives a signal.

[mburstin Posted Dec 23rd 2009 8:17AM]

What are these commercials people refer to -- Tivo takes very good care of this problem in a much better way :).

[RLJSlick Posted Dec 23rd 2009 11:22AM]

The best way to solve this is by ignoring commericals. When come on, I already have my remote so I either turn down the volume, go get something to eat, or more likely surf to see what else is on the TV. I just wont' sit through a damn commerical, I don't care what they are trying to sale.

[Psychosoldier Posted Dec 27th 2009 12:01AM]

@RLJSlick

Finally somebody that makes sense on an issue like this.

[Saireuh Posted Dec 27th 2009 12:37AM]

It has gotten so bad recently. Every time I'm watching House MD I have to make sure I have my remote handy so I'm not deafened when the commercial comes on. I'm ready for a change!

Thank God for when I actually DVR my shows and I can just skip through them....