The Best Legislation Ever?: Senate Votes To Lower The Volume On TV Commercials

by Jon Bershad | 12:01 pm, October 2nd, 2010

» 28 comments

Ok, how many times has this happened to you? You’re sitting back, enjoying your favorite TV show (Celebrity Rehab, obviously) when the commercials come on and, all of a sudden, the volume shoots up to the level your grandparents keep it at. It’s terrible, right? Sure, remotes have made it so we never have to leave the couch during TV time, but that doesn’t mean I want to expend the extra energy reaching for them when I don’t need to! Well, fear not, television viewers of America (AKA everyone in America), because Congress is here to help. Following legislation from the House, the Senate voted unanimously yesterday to make it illegal for commercials to be louder than the TV shows they’re inserted into.

From The Associated Press:

“Ever since television caught on in the 1950s, the Federal Communication Commission has been getting complaints about blaring commercials. But the FCC concluded in 1984 there was no fair way to write regulations controlling the “apparent loudness” of commercials. So it hasn’t been regulating them.

Correcting sound levels is more complicated than using the remote control. The television shows and ads come from a variety of sources, from local businesses to syndicators.

Managing the transition between programs and ads without spoiling the artistic intent of the producers poses technical challenges and may require TV broadcasters to purchase new equipment. To address the issue, an industry organization recently produced guidelines on how to process, measure and transmit audio in a uniform way.

The legislation, sponsored by Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., requires the FCC to adopt those recommendations as regulations within a year and begin enforcing them a year later. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., is the driving force behind the legislation in the House.”

Sure, Congress hasn’t been able to work together to get all that much done recently but, you know what? With this new law, I might have to forgive them. Kudos, lawmakers. Now, let me know when the volume is actually lowered. I’ll be watching HBO until then.

(h/t The A.V. Club)

Advertising, Commercials, FCC

writer

What?
http://TheDividedStatesBlog.com Publius219

This is long overdue. Commercial volumes are like 30% louder. So annoying.
Azarkhan

The Democrats had to choose between voting on a Federal budget or voting on turning down the volume on commercials. They decided to go with the tough vote.
Big Eddie

Sure . NOW they do it . Now that BILLY MAYS is gone .
writer

I bought a Shamwow, cut it in strips, and put it in my ears.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Sean-Peake/619341000 Sean Peake

Super Bass-o-Matic ’76. Makes good Bass.
puck30

“Congress is here to help.”

OMG! If that’s not scary………
Patrick Henry

Publius219 said:
This is long overdue. Commercial volumes are like 30% louder. So annoying.

Publius, I agree, but there is something strange about the Senate voting on such a trivial matter.
writer

A thumbs down just for saying “what?”. I have a stalker!
Patrick Henry

Writer, I have several.
writer

Nice to be popular.
notsofast

Now, pass the same legislation to lower the volume of KO,RM, and O’Donnell!
writer

You can still hear Olbermann when the set is turned off.
DEFENDER-90

Dose this piece of legislation fix the deficit,unemployment solve terrorism,illegal emigration. Waht a waste of time so they give us this useless piece of legislation and for what, to be popular or to distract us.To late the people are awake.

This would have bin better left to the free market to solve,solution a user friendly electric compressor limiter.
DEFENDER-90

Or better yet just use the dam MUTE button.
RichS

Does this legislation turn down the volume on political ads?
jk76

I used to hear louder commercials, but rarely do in the past years. I always thought WTF but it was an accident, didn’t think it would be on purpose. Honestly, it made me not want to buy the product. I haven’t noticed if it’s a little louder, it sounds the same. I’m not a loud listener. I keep the volume as low as possible while being able to hear the show.
http://none pyrope

DEFENDER-90 said:
Dose this piece of legislation fix the deficit,unemployment solve terrorism,illegal emigration. Waht a waste of time so they give us this useless piece of legislation and for what, to be popular or to distract us.To late the people are awake. This would have bin better left to the free market to solve,solution a user friendly electric compressor limiter.

Typos and such not withstanding, you make a wonderful point. Instead of concerning itself with our extraordinary debt, the fact that almost all major heavy industry has left our country, that most of the high-tech industry has departed (tell me where I can buy a TV that has a “Made in USA” label), that our tax dollars are going to eliminate jobs for US workers, we don’t know how much our taxes are going up next year, our government is hatching out legislation like this. I wonder just what kind of earmarks are on this piece of crap.
DEFENDER-90

pyrop—”Typos and such not withstanding”

Thanks in helping lower my self esteem.
DEFENDER-90

Son of a BITCH! it’s pyrope not pyrop.
Cactus

What happened to “less regulation” and “leaving the free market alone”? The “Do Not Call” registry was one thing, because the only real choice to avoid them was to cancel phone service – but if a local TV station cranks out overly loud commercials, I’ll just stop watching it. I won’t go whine to my congressman… geez. If having Stephen Colbert testify to a sub-committee was a “waste of taxpayers’ money”, how many hours and resources went into this gem?

It’s really just a matter of perception anyway, like when a station cuts away from a relatively-quiet tense soap opera scene to a commercial with a volume-normalized music bed. It only “blares” because of what was airing before. I’ve never worked for, or known of, a TV station that instructed its MCOs to crank up the commercials. Because, y’know, they don’t want to piss off viewers… and the advertisers aren’t paying to be extra-loud.

But hey, now politicians can run campaign ads on… how they turned down the volume on ads! Brilliant!
TCinAZ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1VTn80C5TM
Bunny

I don’t know about other markets, but we have Time Warner Cable here and the TWC commercials are THE worst for escalated volume. Every one of their commercials are so much louder than the programs during which they’re aired. I hope this legislation will apply to the cable operators’ own ads!

Thanks, Congress, for working so hard to fix the nation’s most pressing problems. :p
bigbrainbrad

while i am glad that they did something about this, it would be nice if the senate could get something done either way on the tax issue
Mr B

Sean Peake said:
Super Bass-o-Matic ‘76. Makes good Bass.

Sure, but your ying lead to my yang.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bJOIqVAD-s
http://none pyrope

DEFENDER-90 said:
pyrop—”Typos and such not withstanding” Thanks in helping lower my self esteem.

Yo, Defender, I did not mean to offend you, I’m sorry I mentioned the typos. Perhaps this will help: Aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus.
right-is-wrong

pyrope said:
Yo, Defender, I did not mean to offend you, I’m sorry I mentioned the typos. Perhaps this will help: Aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus.

Elitist.
http://www.squidoo.com/lauriebethsgrotto Laurie Beth

I’m irrationally happy about this.