E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Getty Images stock
Put down that remote! A new law that goes into effect Thursday says that commercials cannot be more than 2 decibels louder than the programming around them.
TV fans, you're about to get a break from your commercial break.
Shouting TV ads are soon to become a thing of the past as a new law goes into effect Thursday at midnight mandating that the volume of commercials has to be within a range of 2 decibels (db) more or less than the programming around them.
Joe Addalia, director of technology projects for Hearst Television, was in charge of figuring out the right technology to make 31 transmitters compliant with the new regulations. He told TODAY that 2 db was "the difference between viewers reaching for the remote and not." TV stations want to encourage watchers to leave the remote alone, he said, "because right next to the volume button is the channel button."
Commercials are often so loud because the only real limit on programming volumes is the one set by stations so that the sound levels don't damage their equipment. That level, however, represents a peak sound meant to accommodate for when something like a gunshot or explosion goes off during a show. Advertising content creators routinely crank the sound of their ads to just shy of that peak level, so the entire commercial is playing at the equivalent of a 30-second bomb blast.
Joel Kelsey, legislative director for the media advocacy group Free Press, previously testified in Congress about the need for volume regulation on commercials. Since nearly the beginning of television itself, loud commercials "have consistently been one of the issues consumers are most energized to write the FCC about. They don't like being screamed at every time the program breaks to buy deodorant," Kelsey told TODAY.
However, it took an act of Congress, the "Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act," or CALM Act, to prod the FCC into the necessary action. The bill passed unanimously in the Senate.
While station operators across the country have been busy implementing new volume-limiting controls, many viewers already have technology in their TV sets to dampen the auditory enthusiasm of "Crazy Carl's Car Shack" and "Head-On, APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD!"
In a TV set's audio control settings, there may be a selection for "Automatic Volume control" or "Auto Volume" that once selected automatically smooths out the peaks and valleys in the volume. If you don't have the feature built in, you can purchase an external device such as this Audiovox Terk VR1 Automatic TV Volume Controller, found on Amazon for $21.99.
It's worth mentioning what tools consumers have at their hands, besides the mute button, because with so many moving pieces involved, you can be sure that some loud ads will get through. The FCC encourages viewers to report any rogue ads to 1-888-TELL-FCC (1-888-225-5322).
More information:
Starting today, the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, better known as the "Calm Act," will go into effect, meaning the volume on those pesky commercials will lower.
Leave a Comment:
Now if the FCC would standardize the maximum volume on TV stations.... I watch TV usually long after everyone else has gone to bed. I adjust the volume to avoid disrupting anyone's sleep, but often when I change the channel, the volume is louder on a succeeding channel, even though I have set it low.
It is standardized. There is a signal at the beginning of any broadcast, 0 VU at 400HZ. That is the standard level set for anything broadcast.
Exactly. Volume levels are already matched pretty close because the station has their own broadcast compressors which make sure the peak level doesn't go too high and blow out transmitters or create distortion. Volume is not the issue. Loudness is. Unless the regulation is amended to regulate RMS loudness levels, you will not hear commercials get quieter. This bill is smoke and mirrors. Sorry guys...
CitizenX, #54.1: "It is standardized. There is a signal at the beginning of any broadcast, 0 VU at 400HZ. That is the standard level set for anything broadcast."
Philosopher8, #54.2: "Volume is not the issue. Loudness is. Unless the regulation is amended to regulate RMS loudness levels, you will not hear commercials get quieter. This bill is smoke and mirrors."
Just as I suspected. Thanks!
What??? I can't hear what you're saying! What did that fella say? What's wrong with this TV? Am i going deaf? Could you turn it up a little please?
I don't think that is true, at least it wasn't true in the late 80's. If any station blared the volume they were subject to FCC fines.
When producing shows, volume should be set for 0 VU at 400HZ. A live show, a recorded show or a commercial has a tone set at the beginning that is used to make that setting.
A commercial broadcast at an increased level is done on purpose. Regular shows are not volume limited to save their equipment.
Common sense and consumer preference prevails, plain and simple. There are no hidden agendas or diabolical plots here. Sort of like banning armed tanks from driving down main street. No conspiracy theory in place to take away Mee Maw's shotgun...just plain old common sense. We need more of that around here.
It's about time... I'm tire of people like the now deceased Billy Mays shouting across the TV saying things like "BOOM" and "WOW". TV commercials are becoming a thing of the past with DVR and online video services. Annoying side adverts such as the ridiculously large BankOfAmerica thing on the right side of these comments are becoming the new norm.
Great. Now do something about loudness in recorded music. Compression is literally squeezing the life out of music!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
AMEN! The Loudness War has KILLED the music biz. I am so sick of 'louder is better'. It isn't. It's just louder. Music is supposed to breathe.
And why do we have to have vocals going on thru 95% of the song? Nobody listens to anything other than voice these days? Nobody cares to hear the music? It used to be in a standard vocal song that the singer would take breaks now and then so there was an opportunity for the other instruments to shine thru too. Not any more. Now it is words words words words words words words all the freaking time. There are some songs these days with so stuffed full of vocals that the singer can't even do it live because there is literally no time to breathe.
Ditch expensive pay TV and watch programs online. Plus, with Adblock most ads on your internet browser are gone as well.
Don't get your hopes up yet. If all they are regulating is peak volume levels that won't do much. It is the RMS loudness levels that need to be matched, not peak levels.
Loudness does not come from a momentary peak. It comes from the average sound level. Audio engineers have devices called compressors and limiters which are used to increase the loudness (average level) of a sound without raising its peak. That is how most modern pop music ends up being so ridiculously loud all the time. It is compressed and limited to death, but it does create a big instant impact.
So matching peak levels within 2dB will do little or nothing. I can take a commercial and make the audio extremely loud without violating that rule, and so can everybody else who works on audio. The reason why commercials sound louder is because they are more compressed than a TV show.
I remember the advertisers that make the commercials and specifically ban their products. I've always hated TV - this was just another reason why.
Mediacom's own commercials and the local content they insert have been the worst offenders on their system although they'll try to claim they have no control over it. The problem was of course worse once people started using their home theatre sound systems for everyday viewing. The dynamic range control works OK, but you have to shut it off to enjoy the regular programmings soundtrack as it should be then and you never catch it right away. I made them replace a center center channel speaker when a tweeter fried during a break in a movie.
Well its about time! Now tell the stations to stop putting commercial crap and big station identification symbols all over the TV screen when our program starts after a million commercials......
Question is WHAT TOOK SO LONG!!!! Do they realize how incredibly irritating it is when the volume goes WAY UP when the show breaks to commercial? I don't sit like a potato with the remote in my hand. I'm DOING things with my hands and running around the house. If I'm not fixed at the tube with the remote in hand, then neighbors get blasted too and retaliate. Babies and people get woken. Headaches are caused.
The Tonight Show is the worst because they turn the show volume way down so you barely hear Leno unless you max the volume, then you get super blasted at the commercial. I rarely watch TV because of this. I can't tell you all how glad I am that this will be regulated. I'm really tired of getting blasted by other peoples TVs, especially when they fall asleep with their TV on as the walls shake all night.
Hallelujah !!!!!!!!!!!
If you look at the bill that was passed, you see it regulates volume, not loudness. These two terms are different. Regulating volume does NOTHING. When you hear a commercial come on, it is not actually at a significantly higher volume. It is louder, not higher volume.
This bill does NOTHING. You will see what I mean when you hear the new 'quieter' commercials. At first, I bet they will be much better. But give them a few months or a year at most and commercials will be just as loud as they always have been. All they have to do is match volume levels and then crank up their limiters to get overpowering loudness. There will still be an annoying burst of sound from your TV when commercials come on.
Let me tell you people whats next.DVr,s that can watch and listen to you in home conversations,How bout the black box that is to be installed in all new cars starting in 2014.That way the govment can start charging you for the miles that you drive.A new tax ,no it will be called a road fee.If you don't pay the tax they will turn your car off.In the state of S.C. we already pay for a road fee twice.
Advertisers are getting desperate. TV viewers will flash through commercials, mute them, or just switch channels.
Newspaper advertising is becoming a thing of the past, as the print versions are going digital.
Magazines are going digital.
They are swarming to us online now. I almost never click on a news video, or any other, because there will likely be a dammed commercial before. And, those dammed ads running on the side of the window are supremely annoying. My cursor wanders over them and I am suddenly transported away from my interest and into a commercial. I hate it and I think it should be the next thing to go.
Ad free internet viewing is the next thing that we will be offered, like the ad free cable that we used to have.
Many people do not realize that cable was originally intended for rural and distant areas that were not served by a broadcast signal. it quickly became a marketing tool.
I have noticed that one avenue of advertising that has become pervasive is branding everything that we wear, eat, or consume in any manner with corporate logos and licensed characters. Everything from cereal, to home furnishings, to clothes and shoes has a logo or Dora on it. This is especially true of children's things. It is next to impossible to find a pair of children's Pjs or shirts that are not selling some image on them. It is next to disgusting, IMHO. Just about any grocery product aimed at children has the same visage of Dora on it. Ugh!!!!!
More and more, hubby and I are watching less and less TV. My finger is almost always hovering over the mute or channel button when we do. I watch mostly movies. Even some of the premium movie channels that we pay for now have short commercials!!!
I'd bet that GOP lawmakers are upset about limitations on this "freedom".
This is the kind of "freedom" they protect,....things like:
The right to work for less money.
The right to financially dominate the lower classes and ruin their lives with rules and ideas that are "business friendly".
The GOP loves THOSE kinds of "freedoms".
They will miss the right to invade the minds of those watching TV with their loud and overwhelming messages about "PRODUCT$$$$".
One would have expected the TV industry to be able to do what viewers want without an act of Congress. Now monitoring and compliance for the new legislation will cost taxpayers for all time.
Yeah, I'm sure the FCC will make it priority #1 to chase down all those phone tips for loud, rogue ads...
This is a perfect example of how freedom is lost and government grows. When one person abuses another government is born. As the abuse grows so does government. Everyone including government loses all because some entity that thought they were "free" to be offensive and infringe upon the the freedoms of others is so completely ignorant of freedoms demands.
This is how bigger more intrusive government is voted for, the ballot just picks which flavor we'll get.
I turned the tv off years ago because of the offensive commercials.
This is the first good thing I've seen come out of the US government in quite some time.
Unfortunate that this type of legislation is necessary, but sometimes it is. It's like making banks be honest, you shouldn't have to make them, but you do. You shouldn't have to make companies have a safe workplace, but you do. You shouldn't have to make companies not pollute, but you do. An earlier writer called this socialism, but I would call it capitalism run amuck. Capitalism is the best system in the world, but it is not perfect and it does need controls. Money will not always make the right choice, it trends to make the most profitable choice and the hell with the consequences.
Similarly one could argue that we have the best political system in the world, and we probably do. However that does not mean that it is perfect. I don't think either side is happy with the 'cliff drama'. Rules are necessary in capitalism when companies refuse to do the right thing on their own.
We dont have capitalism. Capitalism wouldnt have bailed out failed companies.
Thank God!!! It's about time that this is being done. Most of us pay for TV via cable, Fios or satellite. If we're already paying for TV, why should the networks get paid by commercial sponsors and then again by the paying consumers? It's double-dipping and a law needs to be put in place. When you get free t.v. with a regular antenna, it's o.k. to get hammered with commercials but when your cable bill is already $150 a month, why should you be subjected to commercial after commercial? There are "No Call Lists" for telephone consumers. TV should be similar. Good news here.
mozzie-600 beat me to it. PBS folks!!!!!! learn something. expand your universe. contribute. good TV is alive and well on PBS stations.
I love Netflix and DVR. I also love Hulu...hate the commercials but love Hulu. We only have cable until football season is over then we'll be back to only streaming media in our home. Cuts down on commercials and costs. Our cable sucks anyway. The cable box flies through the numbers when we're flipping through the channels to find something...ANYTHING....to watch. I can't wait to give my cable box back and never look back. We bought the RedZone package but it's not that great. I think I'll go back to taking my chances at the local sports bar for the next football season when my team's game - GO COWBOYS - don't come on the local stations (thanks VA). LOL
You should try amazon for the tv stuff-- and newer movies. The free content that comes with prime is about the same as netflix and hulu plus you can get newer movies/tv shows for a few bucks.