WASHINGTON: The Senate Commerce Committee approved the Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation Act in an executive session Wednesday afternoon. The bill would require the Federal Communications Commission to regulate the audio volume of TV commercials.
It was sponsored by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). The CALM Act, bill No. S.2847, gives the FCC a year to enforce loudness standards set by the Advanced Television Systems Committee last November. It also provides for granting temporary waivers to TV stations and cable operations that demonstrate financial hardship.
“Excessively loud television advertisements may seem like a small thing,” said Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.), committee chairman and co-sponsor of the bill. “But they are a big source of irritation for many television viewers. This bill will help put a stop to the annoying practice of featuring television advertisements that are many times louder than television programming.”
The CALM Act next will have to pass on the Senate floor and be reconciled in the House before going to the President to be signed into law.
--Deborah D. McAdams
See..
December 16, 2009: “House Votes to CALM TV Ads”
H.R. 1084 was introduced by by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.). It collected 90 co-sponsors over the last few months, and Eshoo recently told the Los Angeles Times she had never “carried a bill which has been received with so much enthusiasm. Only the do-not-call list has even come close.”
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