[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2847 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2847

            To regulate the volume of audio on commercials.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 8, 2009

 Mr. Whitehouse (for himself and Mr. Schumer) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
            To regulate the volume of audio on commercials.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Commercial Advertisement Loudness 
Mitigation Act'' or the ``CALM Act''.

SEC. 2. RULEMAKING ON LOUD COMMERCIALS REQUIRED.

    (a) Rulemaking Required.--Within 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall prescribe 
pursuant to the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) a 
regulation that is limited to incorporating by reference the 
``Recommended Practice: Techniques for Establishing and Maintaining 
Audio Loudness for Digital Television'' (A/85), and any successor 
thereto, approved by the Advanced Television Systems Committee, only 
insofar as such recommended practice concerns the transmission of 
commercial advertisements by a television broadcast station, cable 
operator, or other multichannel video programming distributor.
    (b) Implementation.--
            (1) Effective date.--The Federal Communications Commission 
        shall prescribe that the regulation adopted pursuant to 
        subsection (a) shall become effective 1 year after the date of 
        its adoption.
            (2) Waiver.--For any television broadcast station, cable 
        operator, or other multichannel video programming distributor 
        that demonstrates that obtaining the equipment to comply with 
        the regulation adopted pursuant to subsection (a) would result 
        in financial hardship, the Federal Communications Commission 
        may grant a waiver of the effective date set forth in paragraph 
        (1) for 1 year and may renew such waiver for 1 additional year.
    (c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
            (1) the term ``television broadcast station'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 325 of the Communications 
        Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325); and
            (2) the terms ``cable operator'' and ``multi-channel video 
        programming distributor'' have the meanings given such terms in 
        section 602 of Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522).
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