FCC Lowers the Volume on TV Commercials
FCC
Loud commercials will be leaving your TV quietly — thanks to the FCC.
On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission passed the 2010 Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act that requires commercials to be kept at the same volume as the programs they're airing around. The rule will become effective a year from now, on Dec. 13, 2012, to allow stations and multichannel video programming distributors to be in full compliance.
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In a statement, the FCC said it "today took a major step toward eliminating one of the most persistent problems of the television age — loud commercials."
Though viewer complaints about the volume of commercials have diminished since 2009, the FCC has fielded them for years and the group expects the number of grievances to drop greatly once the rule is implemented.
Are you happy you won't have to reach for the remote anymore during commercial breaks?