Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) wants the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to act—against loud commercials. Her “Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act’ has just cleared a subcommittee and now moves to the full House Energy and Commerce committee for a vote.
The bill is only a couple hundred words long. It directs the FCC to come up with regulations so that:
* Advertisements accompanying such video programming shall not be excessively noisy or strident
* Such advertisements shall not be presented at modulation levels substantially higher than the program material that such advertisements accompany
* The average maximum loudness of such advertisements shall not be substantially higher than the average maximum loudness of the program material that such advertisements accompany
Found by Brother Uncle Don.
#14 “Why is she asking the FCC to come up with regulations? She’s in Congress, she should be writing the regulations.”
That’s not how it works. Congress passes laws. And the laws give the power to the agencies to create regulations.
Congress could pass such a law but the agency would still have to write the regulation. I assume she thinks the law that would authorize such a regulation is already on the books. And I’m pretty sure she is right.
#16 It would be WXYZ that gets fined by the FCC. The FCC has no power over MoneyCorp.
But even in that case WXYZ an affiliate of the BIG television network has no way to know what the “average loudness” for a given show is going to be. Example, a really bad football game where nobody ever scores or even barely moves the ball is going to have a much lower “average loudness” than a game with a lot of back and forth in score.
This is a tech issue not a programing issue. My TV is completely capable of auto leveling and it does a pretty could job of it. The y required the V-Chip and Digital TV, a sound leveling chip ought to be a no-brainer.
I am no sure why automated modulation to control this cannot be done without Congress? It seems to me that this technology has been around a long time. Its just something that networks were afraid to do. In fact some TV’s already do this to some extent. Its too bad Congress has to get involved in such a issue.
I have not had cable tv for half a decade now. Broadband net satisfies the news for the most part and entertainment can be had as well. The reason for me getting rid of useless tv access was the boorish insipid and ear destroying COMMERCIALS!!!!
I detest the shouted, pandering low brow b.s. that is ‘the’ commercial. When I end up having one blasted at me from the net, my appreciation for their sponsorship of whatever I am viewing vanishes. The lasting impression usually leaves me avoiding the product.
The only time I catch cable tv anymore is when I travel and the hotel/motel has a poor net connection. I know better than to watch since I become furious with the crap. Its compounded by my slow hearing loss that requires me to have the volume high, then comes the jolting earsplitting commercial segment that lasts and lasts and….
I’ve always felt the volume issue is the stations fault. I wouldn’t mind a regulation requiring a station to “balance” their volume levels.
What the FCC really needs to go after, are these infomercials that try to pass themselves off as legitimate programs. Maybe even limit the total number of hours a day a station can use for informercials.
I knew a plant manager at a cable company that took great pride in the fact that he adjusted the volume on all channels to a consistent level. Some commercials would still be louder then the programing, but not by much.
Its one of those things you don’t notice, but when I moved to a different city I could tell the difference.
The thing is that Most companies won’t spend the to do this work, since there probably isn’t a clear benefit to justify the work.
To me a better place to require this kind of tuning would be in the franchise agreement that the cable company has with a local government. You can always contact your city or county council member and ask them to make this a requirement when the agreement gets renewed.
Let’s see how far it gets. Anything that appealing is bound to attract a swarm of lobbyists working against it. And let’s see how long it remains at 200 words before the riders start getting attached.
I always thought the volume difference was because advertising agencies record the commercial at a higher (louder) level. Similar to the difference in volume one notices when they download music from different sources. The better (or paid) desktop music players have what’s called “leveling” to fix this problem so your ears don’t get unexpectedly blasted when listing with headphones.
TV’s should have leveling built in (if that’s possible) or there should be a law.
Contrary to some folks that mute or skip the commercials, I actually like the funny ones but I tire of messing with the volume every time.
To follow up on 15 Canuck & 18 pedro, part of the problem is not necessarily the loudest sound but that all the other usually lower level sounds have been shifted or compressed up to higher volumes.
RBG
It doesn’t matter how loud they are after you hit the mute button.
So screaming is bad but boner pill ads on superbowl are okay?
IMAC. Stands for “I Mute All Commercials”. After a while it becomes as normal/automatic as putting on a seat belt before driving.
#30 Not if they don’t come with a nice chick for a try out
WOW! I support this 1000000%
“Yell and Sell!” seems to be the norm.
Ever notice that all the stations have commercials on at the same time?
Really , but does it take 14 commercials in a row at a break to support these stations?
I remember the commercials being a lot more interesting also…
LIke the Timex “take a licking and keep on ticking.. ”
TV SUCKS…
I’m one of those headend techs who really tries to match audio channel to channel, and I pay attention to local ads, but there’s less and less control at the local level these days.
That said, there’s already plenty of rules and best practices concerning audio. The ATSC standard addresses it, dialnorm adresses it, and most engineers I know at least make an attempt. The problem always comes down to compression differences between the program and the commercials. Not much you can do about that but ride faders, but even that’s going away with digital automation, and 300+ channels.
That said, unless someone can prove they’re somehow being hurt or damaged, i don’t see any reason to make a federal case out of it. It’s just TV kids.
This is similar to local, idiotic behavior by our incredibly stupid Legislature that is “protected” – protected by the fact that since 1991 – almost twenty years – they are secure in their Democrat Gerrymandered districts and don’t have to run a credible campaign to become re-elected.
We have in effect a California Democrat Politburo who can’t be ousted, they have the numbers on their side, and the campaign money supplied by the Unions. Any attempt to run against a vote-protected incumbent is a waste of money.
But, like an inbred species of dog, the flaws in this low-hanging fruit, no-opposition breeding-ground have become obvious. There is no actual intelligence requirement, and frivolous behavior like this is becoming normative – since they have nothing to do but enact the edicts of their Politburo at The Central Committee – really, that’s what it’s called, the Democrats named it that.
Fortunately the Stupidslature has within it the seeds of its own downfall, but the consequences for the rest of us – and the Country – will be severe.
Then they circumvent it by sponsoring the TV shows whom set their volume levels higher as well to make the commercials seem normal.
People need to wake up.
Cursor_
#14, Lyin’ Mike,
Why is she asking the FCC to come up with regulations? She’s in Congress, she should be writing the regulations.
Another one that doesn’t understand the difference between laws and regulations.
Could you imagine if billy mays was still alive and was forced to talk at normal levels? The ads would stink!
I’ve never really noticed any differences in the volume levels for ads lately, it seems that comcast is doing some volume control.
I’ve read all the comments above and I really don’t give a flying foxtrot whose fault it is or who should fix it. The fact is it is rude and annoying and for all the $ we pay for cable TV, it should not happen, simple as that.
Every once in a while while at a friend’s house I will be subjected to their TV. It reminds me of why I don’t own one anymore.
Between Hulu, and Netflix streaming, I get to watch all the programs that interest me. I can mute my computer when the ad is on and switch windows to a blog or news site to do some reading. When the ad is over, I switch back and resume the audio.
For programs that aren’t online, I can rent the DVD from my Netflix account. So what if it is last season’s episodes? They are new to me. I can also scan the reviews to see if I should even bother watching the program or episode.
I’m getting married in January, and I know there is going to be one hell of a blow out when I refuse to let the wife bring a TV to our house.