U.S. House Passes Bill to Require Volume of Commericals to be the Same as TV Programs - Video

Freedom's Lighthouse ^ | December 16, 2009 | Brian

[Federalist Patriot]

Here is video of NBC's Brian Williams saying the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would require commercials to air at the same volume as the program you are watching. Many viewers have complained about huge spikes in volume that seem to happen during commercial breaks. . . . . (VIDEO)

[Sacajaweau]

Hate to see it done via government but glad about it.

[vwbug]

another industry killed

[earlJam]

Agreed.

BTW, my father is in the music business. He says there are ways around this.

Producers can also “compress” the audio, making it sound louder than it actually is. Same decibels on the sound meter. But to the human ear, it sounds louder.

Some commercials already do this.

[Poison Pill]

The only thing that bugs me more than the volume of commercials is the government regulating the volume of commercials. Are we now going to have an Assistant Under Secretary of TV Loudness?

[Recon Dad]

Then again compared to everything else they stick their noses into they are actually making something better. Now they should go home.

[PubliusMM]

Sheesh! I’m glad they don’t have anything else to work on...

Idiots, all of ‘em.

It’s time to take back the country. We should all be sick to death of the insidious creep of government intrusion into areas clearly prohibited to them in the Constitution.

[vwbug]

What we need is a Loudness Czar

[msg-84]

another industry killed

Another industry that has been killing itself - it is television networks (AKA the dinosaur media on FR) that engage in this practice. Who wants to suddenly be SCREAMED at by their TV?

At my house we deal with this annoying practice by hitting the mute button, subsequently it has been counterproductive for the those paying for the ads.

[vwbug]

and you need government intervention for this?

[Cyclone59]

Another industry that has been killing itself - it is television networks (AKA the dinosaur media on FR) that engage in this practice. Who wants to suddenly be SCREAMED at by their TV?

At my house we deal with this annoying practice by hitting the mute button, subsequently it has been counterproductive for the those paying for the ads.

we do that too. Commercials are limited to the volume levels, however they find the loudest spike in the show and then set it to that level - they also use the compression as mentioned before - both of which are irritating.

[Trust but Verify]

But it’s for the children! The children who are too lazy to use their remote control. I’m going to think of something that annoys me and bug my Congressman to write a big to outlaw it.

[Magic Fingers]

“Producers can also “compress” the audio, making it sound louder than it actually is. Same decibels on the sound meter. But to the human ear, it sounds louder.”

Regardless of the acoustic trickery used it's intensely obnoxious.

[o_zarkman44]

I thought sensible thinking in Washington DC was dead.
At least there is one thinker out of the 535.
But that is as far as credit goes.

[Wee-Weed Up]

Yeah, I always wondered about that. It only makes sense that everything is at the same volume and the person watching can control it by their remote. Not sure what these commercial programs were trying to accomplish, but I’m glad it will be fixed.

[Birdsbane]

Billy Mays is dead, but he is still yelling at me. I’m for wrapping the dead dudes’ face with duct tape...

[Zack Attack]

Thank goodness they have taken on this monumental task. Now on to the important task of college football playoffs I assume.

[msg-84]

and you need government intervention for this?

As I stated, I deal with the problem using the mute button. As I also indicated, the network's problem, whether it be from viewers using their mute buttons or broadcast regulations, is self-inflicted.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

This is a GOOD thing. Now you can doze off during a program and not be woken up by a super-loud commercial.