TVTechnology: President Signs CALM Act into Law

12.17.2010 8:25AM

President Signs CALM Act into Law

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama signed the CALM Act into law this week, requiring broadcasters to throttle down the volume on excessively loud TV commercials.

The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act directs television broadcasters and advertisers to adopt technology that will modulate audio levels and prevent overly loud commercials. They have one year to do so. The Advanced Television Systems Committee in 2009 adopted best practices for broadcast commercial volume. These will become the standard by which the FCC will monitor compliance.

The text of the bill is available here.

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Posted by: Anonymous

Wed, 01-05-2011 - 12:07PM Report Comment

How is this the business of the Government? If you think the government exists to make every little detail of your life easier, you likely will get more than you bargained for. In my opinion this is another symptom of a significant problem of the Nanny State. To paraphrase Jefferson, a society that will trade a little liberty for a little safety (or loudness mitigation) will lose both, and deserve neither.

Posted by: Anonymous

Fri, 12-17-2010 - 5:28PM Report Comment

This act, pushed by Representative Anna Eshoo, D-CA, will add yet another regulation to Broadcasters and make them responsible for audio that they have little control over. Most all broadcasters presently process audio, but differences in "theatrical presentations" and commercials will still exist. With broadcasters handing off media to cable companies, satellite distributors, U-Verse, et. al., they will have no control over the final product, but be tasked to "fix it" or be fined.

Posted by: Anonymous

Fri, 12-17-2010 - 12:45PM Report Comment

This is one of the most momentious moments in history, to make our lives more liveable, to not have to put up with the blasting commercials ranging from political commercials to the commercials which the advertisers believe is so important to their commercial ventures, at our expense. I wear out my mute button or my audio level control on my remote trying to keep the audio at a reasonable level. No more, thank goodness.

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