Posted on 12/13/2011 12:35:41 PM PST by americanophile
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve rules implementing legislation that makes it illegal for advertisers to pump up the volume during television commercial breaks.
The law, called the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act, aims to answer the complaints of Americans who have for years protested that commercials are too loud.
"The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today took a major step toward eliminating one of the most persistent problems of the television age - loud commercials," the FCC said in a statement following the passage of the CALM rules. "Congress gave the Commission, for the first time, authority to address the problem of excessive commercial loudness."
The legislation, which is slated to go into effect on December 13, 2012, dictates that cable providers be responsible for the volume of the advertisements they run, both locally and nationally.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Wow one I agree with.......................yikes!
It’d be nice if the free market would just put an end to this, obnoxious commercials, or even if a service was offered by cable or television companies, but failing that, I suppose this is acceptable.
I thought a law doing exactly this had been passed and implented several years ago?
I guess the guys in the advertising industry don't have the pay to play bucks that LightSquared has.
One sensible regulatory ruling for the sake of eardrums and sanity and it only took them about 50 years. Gotta love the FEDs.
Agreed. Now, if they could just ban an extra-loud F. C. C., N. T. S. B., and many other agencies.
I use my remote control. I am unwilling to pay for extra government to do something that I can do for free. The wife and kids on the other hand, they’ll love the reduced volume commericals. They are not allowed to touch the remote.
Huh...that’s odd, I hadn’t notice commercials being extra loud. [shrug] Oh, wait, that’s because I don’t encounter commercials! Seems dumping TV per se in favor of Netflix, iTunes, etc. has saved my hearing and done my small part in attempting to deflect government meddling. $99+$8/mo is paying off.
When these idiots increase the volume on the commercials it forces me to pick up the remote.
I usually push the channel change button rather than the volume control.
It is a lot easier to change channels than to change volume.
Decades ago, in fact. This is new because it is applied to cable providers...a new stretch for the FCC. The headline and most of the article is not clear about that.
The DVR is my friend.
This would be what, the 3rd or 4th time Congress has passed such legislation?
i say dig it!! i get pissed when i fall asleep in front of the tube and a loud commercial wakes me up!!
lol.....
Great news.... now will they get rid of that stupid ‘penis pump’ commercial?
“Great news.... now will they get rid of that stupid ‘penis pump’ commercial?”
You mean the one that has cost the taxpayers a quarter of a billion dollars this year alone?
I seldom watch commercials (using the combination of DVR and skip button—one of mankind’s greatest inventions), but on several occasions I when I have watched, I noticed one or two commercials that tried a savvy trick often used by good speakers, lower the volume of your voice to barely audible. The audience will strain to hear you.
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