C-A-L-M Act to Regulate the Volume of Commercials

Commercial advertising and the CALM act

One of the most controversial issue for the FCC, since 1960 has been excessively loud commercial advertising.

Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation / CALM

The act will regulate digital television including, cable operator and multichannel video programming distributor's which has raised the eyebrows of some advertisers.

The difference between the sound levels of an ordinary television show and a commercial advertising, also known as a commercial, has been a main stay for more than half a century, yet until now the loudness of a commercial has not been established.

So we wanted to check on just how much difference there is between a regular TV show and a commercial.

In our own private tests we found that the level of volume was different for just about every commercial, which suggests that for now at least no one is following the new law, perhaps because there is a one year delay in the enforcement of the law.

Some commercials were up to 12 DB higher than the regular programming now that is a lot of noise.

Special equipment might be needed for broadcasters to monitor and establish a base line for audio sounds, really it seems like they should be able to control that right now, the ability to control the loudness of a commercial, is well within the means of all broadcasters, period, if they could not control it, then why are the sound levels so much louder than the TV programs?

Think about that for a moment, you will get it later if not now.

One of the most interesting aspects of this is how long it took for the FCC to take action on this issue and even more interesting is how long it will take before advertising on the internet may also be included in this measure.

Loud commercials have been an on going issue since the 1960s however they never acted on those complaints, that is more than 50 years, so why now?

Some would argue that it is well past time to act however, it may have been that the FCC did not have the authority to act in this way because of the problems with this law it could be challenged, by legal action.

This law allows the FCC to regulate Cable TV, and multi channel video distributors, (satellite TV) now that is something that perhaps is beyond the reach and the mandate of the FCC but we will leave it to the lawyers to argue it out.

One thing for sure, most people are sick and tired of loud and abusive sounding commercials, I mean on thanksgiving day after over eating, the one thing you want to be able to do is to sit back and watch a great foot ball game, on TV, and yes, if we want to sleep during that football game we should have that right.

However, over the last 50 years, loud and abusive commercials has caused a serious problem among avid TV sleepers, who just want to be left alone.

Many people feel strongly about their right to sleep in front of the TV and loud commercials can cause a lot of problems with TV consumers who want to sleep during their favorite Television shows.

No matter how you feel about it, keeping the volume down is a good thing, because noise pollution, is a serious problem in the country.


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