[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 11896]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  INTRODUCTION OF THE COMMERCIAL ADVERTISEMENT LOUDNESS MITIGATION ACT

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                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, June 9, 2008

  Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, most Americans are not overjoyed to watch 
television commercials, but they are willing to tolerate them to 
sustain free over-the-air television. What annoys all of us is the 
sudden increase of volume when commercials are aired.
  While the FCC does not specifically regulate the volume of TV 
programs or TV commercials, broadcasters are required to have equipment 
that limits the peak power they can use to send out their audio and 
video signals. This means the loudest TV commercial can never be louder 
than the loudest part of any TV program.
  A TV program has a mix of audio levels. There are loud parts and soft 
parts. Nuance is used to build the dramatic effect. Most advertisers 
don't want nuance. They want to grab our attention, and to do this, 
they record every part of it as loud as possible. The peak levels of 
commercials are no higher than the peak levels of program content, but 
those peaks are sustained for longer periods in commercials.
  I've introduced the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, 
CALM Act, to address the volume of commercials. The bill would mandate 
that the FCC within one year enact rules requiring that advertisements 
not be excessively noisy and that they must be at the same volume as 
the television programming they accompany.
  I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this sensible bill.

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