Image Credit: Image Source/Getty ImagesHave you ever been watching your favorite television show live, pleased to finally get a moment to relax after a long day, only to be jolted out of that moment of peace by an insanely annoying, loud commercial? Easily my least favorite aspect of watching television live is the pronounced audio discrepancy between television programs and their commercial breaks. Every time an overly loud commercial doorbell sent my puppy into a frenzy, I wondered why this happened and if something could be done about it. Now I can calm down — this annoyance will soon legally come to an end.
On Wednesday, the Senate unanimously passed a bill titled Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) that requires commercials to be the same volume as the television show they run during. Until the passing of CALM, the FCC had essentially decided that regulating the volume of commercials was too large a task, as commercials and television programs came from a multitude of sources. Personally, I think this bill is long overdue and incredibly welcome, and its name’s acronym is perfectly appropriate for what this bill will bring to all Americans. Sure, this isn’t the most pressing deal facing Senate these days, but complaints about inappropriately loud commercials have been going on for decades, and it’s nice to finally see them get addressed.
What do you think, PopWatchers? Are you excited by this news, or do you fast forward through your commercials?
wow – this is a nice surprise. It is so jarring to be watching something and have a super loud commercial come on. I never understood why advertisers would even want that – my first instinct is to hit mute and ignore the ads entirely.
FINALLY!!! I hate how loud Commercials can get.
An older Tv i had was equipped with a feature called smartsound. It automatically lowered the audio of commercials to the level I’d selected for the show. Kind of a thermostat for audio. My new Tv doesn’t have that, and I miss it.
About time!! I always have to mute the commercials because they are so loud I’m afraid the people in the apartment next door can hear
Yeah it’s not like it’s some serious issue, but I’m happy about it. It’s about time they did this. I hate loud commercials. If advertisers thought their commercials being louder would get my attention, they were dead wrong. If anything, an overly loud commercial would make me want to stay away from whatever product was being advertised simply out of spite.
Well at least Congress can agree on something!
about time maybe now more people can watch live TV more comfortably. That alone made me buy my first Tivo to avoid the loud commercials.
i just hit the mute button when commercials come on. then it doesn’t matter how loud they are!
Good, but at least you can mute TV what about the radio?Can the same rules apply?
Glad they did this, but come on, Congress – you have SO MANY more important issues to deal with than the volume of commercials!
My Sony TV has a feature called STEADY SOUND. It’s either ineffective or defective. Glad to hear of this legislation.
Loud commercials was one of the reasons why I never bought anything the late Billy Mays was selling.
Thank God. Washington is finally doing something that helps the American people.
HAHA no kidding
thanks for the laugh
can they git rid of the stupid reallity shows too?
So glad to hear this. CBS is the worst station for this sort of thing. I know that they don’t have control over the commercials’ volume, but there was always a bigger discrepancy on their network than on others, it seemed. Long overdue, if you ask me.
This past weekend the commercials were so loud that it sounded like ´their last farewell.´ Today they sound less loud. The book, ´´Energy Vampires,´´ talks about turning down the volume when they appear because they are energy vampires. Let´s hope the decibels go down.
Commercials are the reason I DVR virtually everything I watch. We never watch live tv that isn’t a sporting event. And with the directv sports packages, we can pretty much watch those commercial free, too. The dogs barking at tv doorbells is so true for us, too, though!