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.
There is always TIVO, and its generic counterpart, offered by most cable companies, the Digital Video Recorder. I record virtually everything that I ultimately watch, and I can zip through a commercial at top speed, never hearing a word of it and only seeing enough of it to determine when it is over.
The best use I have found is in watching NFL games. I record the show from the beginning and start watching my recording about 90 minutes later. I zoom through all the commercials, all of the referee's reviews, the interminably repetitious 25 views of whether the receiver had possession with both feet in bounds, etc. If the game is interesting and the commentators have some insights, I will listen to their discussion during the huddle. Otherwise, I just zip ahead to the next play. I have watched an entire game in about an hour. More intensive viewing takes maybe an hour and a half. I absolutely cannot watch a game live that starts at 1 o'clock and ends at 4:15. The only caveat is to keep friends from spoiling the drama by phoning. I just don't pick it up.
Billy Mays: Cocaine... It’ll clean your clock!
I agree. And then they repeat the same one after an intervening 30-second ad. So if you didn't pull your hair out the first time, they'll get you the second go-around.
First they came for the extra loud commercials.....
Then they came for the "can you hear me now guy"....
LOL, couldn't resist!
Yes, that one. This kinda garbage drives me insane.
I’m surprised that it doesn’t come with tax payer funded porno movies.
I figure that if folks want to use this stuff, fine, but they should buy the junk out of their own pocket.
Maybe these folks should try a glass of wine and shop-vac. LOL
Oh yeah, wait a minute...
;^)
Now if they would just tackle the problem of people driving around with their damn fog lights on all the time.
;)
Roseanne RoseannaDanna
Oh those Billy Mays commercials were the worst offenders! I would try to watch TV after hubby went to sleep. I would turn down the TV as low as it could go but still be able to understand what was said. Then a Billy Mays commercial would come on LOUD, and him yelling! It was awful!
Good grief! Has no one in DC heard of a ‘Volume’ or ‘Mute’ button? Yes, many commecials are WAY too loud, but I am able to turn down the sound on offenders without government assistance.
They need an entire year to turn down the volume?
personally I sort of rely on loud commercials to wake me up, get me off the couch and upstairs to a proper bed.
Have you seen NFL Replay on the NFL network? Simply incredible! I don't know how they cobble it together, but it's amazing! The play by play audio makes sense, the punt into the end zone is edited out. One day, all NFL games and NCAA games will be available I that format, and that is the day I shall retire!
What shows are you watching?
I agree as well. It is beyond annoying to lower the commercials only to raise the volume when the show comes back on.
I can’t believe what I’m reading on this thread.
Isn’t Free Republic meant to be a site that cheers for small government?
How the hell are we ever going to get there if you want government to monitor and indulge in prosecutions over things like this?
I can deal with loud TV commercials myself. I do not need a government dept to do it for me.
With me, the free market already has put an end. I never watch programs live. I DVR them, watch the recording later, and skip over the commercials entirely.
ya well... a failed 20+ year marriage and doin just that, anymore i just reach for the power on the remote brother...
I’ve seen them pop up on different channels. I generally watch Faux News and occasionally SiFi. I couldn’t tell you more detail.
BUT, if you really want one, you could probably order one over the net.... good luck. LOL
I have had commercials come blasting out of speakers that were low for the TV show. It’s beyond annoying, and despite years of incessant consumer complaints, the providers did jack and and nothing about it. Think of it as an anti-noise ordinance, which is pretty much what it is. I doubt most here have a large problem with those.
The FCC is a bargain, even if we do miss out on a few neat toys because of it. Have you ever been in a country without a frequency spectrum control agency? Electronic communications are problematic and infrastructure devoted to things like cell phones is much heavier.
Small government does not mean no regulations.
I figured that Billy Mays passing on already solved this problem.
BUT WAIT.....THERE’S MORE!
That’s about the point I wake up grumbling about the damn loud ads.
A year's delay is something up with which Winnie would not have put!
Yeah, I know, really I do.
Loud commercials are really annoying.
But we absolutely have to start doing things differently, and remember that every time we ask for a new law, whatever that law is, it means government grows bigger.
We need to start cutting back on laws, relying less on government to solve problems and solve them ourselves.
Otherwise we’re just never going to get out of this unholy horrible disgusting mess.
Ugh. I hate the loud commercials so much that I press mute as soon as he commercials start. If the goal of the loud commercials is to get my attention, they have failed miserably.
Ugh. I hate the loud commercials so much that I press mute as soon as he commercials start. If the goal of the loud commercials is to get my attention, they have failed miserably.
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