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Uploaded: Thursday, December 13, 2012, 4:11 PM
New law calms loud television commercials
Law authored by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, goes into effect
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A law authored by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, that turns down the volume on TV commercials went into effect Thursday.
The CALM Act, or Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, requires TV providers to keep the volume of commercials at the same level as regular programming. The congresswoman, working with Rhode Island Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, pushed for the legislation after she discovered decades of consumer complaints to the Federal Communications Commission about "earsplitting television ads," according to the congresswoman.
At a news conference held Thursday morning, Dec. 13, in Washington, D.C., Eshoo lauded the implementation of the law helping all Americans no matter their political affiliation.
"This is obviously a relief to consumers," she said.
Quieter TV viewing has arrived nearly two years after President Obama signed Eshoo's legislation into law on Dec. 15, 2010. At Thursday morning's news conference, Eshoo recalled how her bill came into existence.
At a family gathering four years ago, a commercial that she called a "blast" came on while her family watched a sporting event. After muting the ad, her brother-in-law told her to do something in Congress about the loud disturbance on the television, Eshoo said. The FCC approved its final rules of the law last year and widespread implementation began Thursday, the end of a grace period to accommodate any financial hardship on TV providers to comply with the law, according to Eshoo's spokesman Charles Stewart.
The FCC will be charged with regulating commercial volumes. According to the FCC, they will rely on consumers to monitor industry compliance with the new law. Complaints for any violators can be filed at www.fcc.gov/complaints.— Bay City News Service Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by ZzzzzAhhh, a resident of the Cuernavaca neighborhood, on Dec 14, 2012 at 7:51 am Now what's going to wake me up when I fall asleep on the couch? Just joking. I like this law. I'm going to report those noisy ads to the FCC.
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Posted by Dox, a resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood, on Dec 14, 2012 at 7:51 am It probably took this long because most of the people with influence (read:money) own TV sound systems that adjust the volume automatically.
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Posted by Tina, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Dec 14, 2012 at 2:23 pm These are the laws we're fussing with instead of "fiscal cliff" issues. Nice. Remember when we had to get up off the couch to turn the channel or adjust the volume? Maybe if they passed a law outlawing remote controls, the nation would lose some weight, or watch less TV, then we wouldn't have to worry about slightly louder audio during commercials...
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Posted by seriously?, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Dec 14, 2012 at 2:24 pm with DVR's, who watches commercials anyway???
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Posted by vfree, a resident of the Whisman Station neighborhood, on Dec 14, 2012 at 2:26 pm I guess political ads will be exempt.
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Posted by Susan , a resident of the Castro City neighborhood, on Dec 14, 2012 at 2:44 pm Thanks Ms Eschoo!! It's about time!!!
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Posted by Kman, a resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood, on Dec 14, 2012 at 4:05 pm Yes, thanks Anna, I can now sleep comfortably in front of the tv. Woo hoooo
PS, should of been done a long time ago.
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Posted by Beegee, a resident of another community, on Dec 14, 2012 at 4:10 pm It would be great if we had a law to ration the amount of politcal ads
on tv, and the radio.
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Posted by Steve, a resident of the Sylvan Park neighborhood, on Dec 17, 2012 at 2:38 pm It's comforting to know that all the other, pressing issues have been handled, and now we can move on to the silly ones.
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Posted by CopperC, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Dec 18, 2012 at 4:17 pm Does this apply to cable too? Or just broadcast TV.
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