/ 06.10.2010 12:00AM
UPDATE: CALM Act Gets Senate Commerce Approval
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.”