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CALM act goes into effect today, should keep TV commercial breaks quieter
After waiting a year so broadcasters could get ready, the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act is officially in effect. That means ads and promos are required to remain on par with the average audio levels of scheduled programming, hopefully bringing an end to jolting transitions in the middle of the reality TV drama you were enjoying. At the time it enacted the measure, the FCC said complaints about loud ads had "diminished" since 2009 (R.I.P. Billy Mays) when it was originally proposed, hopefully this will eliminate them entirely. The only problem now? Finding a new wake-up reminder for those times you happen to doze off in front of the TV.
FCC tells advertisers to CALM down, lowers the volume on commercial breaks
Pretty soon, you won't have to scramble to lower the volume during noisy commercial breaks -- that's if you even watch live TV. After making its way through Capitol Hill, the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (or CALM) -- which aims to keep the sounds coming out of your flat panel even-keeled -- has just been adopted in a ruling by the FCC. Starting next December, ads and promos will have to remain in-step with the audio levels of scheduled programming. While the affected parties have a full year to get their acts together, the main burden of enforcement lies with broadcasters and MVPDs like Comcast and Verizon FiOS. So, come next holiday season, you'll be able to tune in and tune out without being blown away.
CALM Act approved by Congress, should make TV commercials slightly less obnoxious
We did say it'd take an Act of Congress to lower the volume on televisual commercials and, shockingly enough, that's exactly what we've got now. The House of Representatives has given its nod of approval to the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act, which, having already cleared the Senate, is now on its way to President Obama's desk for final validation. Once signed into effect, the new legislation will require that all advertisers modulate their volume down so it's no higher than that of the program you're watching, and it'll be the FCC's duty to ensure that they all adhere to the new rule. A year's leniency will be allowed for all those who struggle with figuring out how to turn it down from 11, but after that we should all be able to watch the dying medium that is live television without dreading the commercial breaks.
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.
