Congress Lowers Volume on Blaring Commercials

CBS/IStockPhoto

Congress is scrambling to address many issues during the lame duck session, including the Bush tax cuts, immigration reform, gays in the military and the extension of unemployment benefits -- but the House made time today to also pass the CALM Act, a bill that will ban loud television commercials.

The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act, championed by Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo of California, requires the use of technology that ensures television commercials play at the same volume as regular programming. The new regulation will be enforced by the Federal Communications Commission.

The House passed the bill by a voice vote this afternoon. The bill was passed the Senate unanimously in September, and it now goes to the White House for President Obama's signature. Once the bill is signed into law, the FCC will start enforcing the new rules within a year.

Consumers have complained to the FCC about loud commercials for decades, and Eshoo told the Wall Street Journal that the CALM Act is the most popular piece of legislation she's sponsored in her 18 years in Congress. "If I'd saved 50 million children from some malady, people would not have the interest that they have in this," she said.

For now, the FCC has a webpage on the subject, which advises consumers, "Manually controlling volume levels with the remote control remains the simplest approach to reducing excessive volume levels."

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Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com. You can read more of her posts here. Follow Hotsheet on Facebook and Twitter.

[kristycav]

ugh its a year later and they are still loud!!!

[thomthum1]

I sure hope that congress' next step is to do something about the incessant drug ads.
These lawmakers must watch TV. They've decided to regulate these decibels, so they must realize how annoying the repetitive drugs ads are.
Ask your Doctor Ms. Eshoo, if this is right for you, or me, or especially my kids. Cialis, Viagra and Lavitra come to mind.

[barbaram99]

I hate ads..I use them for bathroom breaks. They are louder than the reg programming aired..I am hearing impaired and so us headphones to hear the sound as I have to tune the vol up to hear what is said..I hate the ads..The ads is what pays for the programming..

[ron64735]

With so many people staying home (because, ya'know, they're out of work, no jobs, lousy economy, etc.), it's important that their TV watching experience is pleasurable and as labor free as possible. Instead of pressing the "down volume" button on the remote, I want someone to adjust it for me.

Kudos to Congress for dealing with TV volume instead of other issues such as no jobs, lousy economy, etc. And that nuclear treaty with Russia? No worries there. The half life of plutonium is 24,000 years, so we have plenty of time to deal with that. Good job, guys!

[jimbryho]

word.

[netjunkie1]

Why do you suppose the broadcasters do that?
It's because they force the commercials down your gullet weather you want them or not.
Congress is passing this law to make themselves look better, because the technology now exists in the new series of televisions that do this automatically.

[KipsterKipster]

Boy, I'm sure am grateful all those other problems were fixed so that we had time to vote on this issue!

[tsigili]

They should have required a volume standard for all channels to meet. You should not have to turn up the volume for one channel, and back down for another. That demonstrates that there is NO standard for broadcast volume.

[ouchitatom]

Wether this becomes law or nor will depend on the amount of kickbacks offered from the lobbyist.They control congress by proxy wether democrat or republican.The only difference between the political crimes in this country and others is they don't try to hide thier crimes .

[endurorob_5]

Why is this something for congress to do. If people have a problem with the volume then turn it down or complain to the network. We do not need more government intrusion.

[Turbidite]

We also don't need intrusion by corporations on a TV cable service that we already pay for.

[ghostofandy]

It's becoming more and more obvious every day that Congress doesn't know what it's job function is.