Senate Passes CALM Act (S.2847)
It’s unanimous! On September 29, the Senate unanimously passed S. 2847, the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (a/k/a “CALM Act”), the bill intended to force video providers to take steps to assure that commercials (and other “interstitials”) are not annoyingly louder than the programming which they interrupt. That leaves just two steps to go in the legislative process before the awesome power of the federal government puts its regulatory finger to its regulatory lips and issues a regulatory “Shhhhhh”.
We’ve written about the CALM Act before, so there’s no need to re-visit the story up to this point. Since our last report, the Senate version of the bill (the House side’s version is dubbed H.R. 1084) was amended ever so slightly and, as amended, given the overwhelming Senatorial thumbs up. The amendment, tacked on at the last minute, provides:
Compliance.--Any broadcast television operator, cable operator, or other multichannel video programming distributor that installs, utilizes, and maintains in a commercially reasonable manner the equipment and associated software in compliance with the regulations issued by the Federal Communications Commission in accordance with subsection (a) shall be deemed to be in compliance with such regulations.
That’s presumably intended to give video providers some assurance that, as long as they install, utilize and maintain the required gear, they’ll be deemed street legal, regardless of any individual viewer complaints that might roll in.
The only hitch here is that the version of the CALM Act that the House passed didn’t happen to include an equivalent amendment. That means that the next step in the March To Enactment is for the House and the Senate to get together to work out the differences between the two bills. Once that’s done – and at this point there seems little doubt that that will get done – it’s on to the White House for one final signature and, bingo – It’s The Law. At that point there will still be some time before the new obligations kick in, since the FCC will have one year to follow up with the nitty-gritty details, like adopting new rules to conform to Congress’s will.
We’ll report back as developments warrant – check back here for updates.
Finally we'll not have to listen to the filthy volume cheats that broadcast program volume to its lowest levels, requiring viewers to turn up their TV sound to high levels in order to hear the programs. Then when commercials are broadcast, they are sent out at high volume levels...waking up drunken stepfathers, Moms, babies, Parents working night-shifts, and neighbors.
Rotten-minded advertisers will once again have to use creative advertising, which will be refreshing once again. Thanks congress, for lending us your ears.
When I was younger I never paid much attention to this, perhaps it wasn't happening quite so often but lately I find myself getting so upset every time I am relaxing at home late at night watching some TV before going to bed. I am livid at the fact that I am constantly getting blasted out of my seat every time one of these obnoxious commercials comes on. I was to the point where I was going to try and start a protest of some sort via Facebook to boycott products from manufactures that amped up the volume on their commercials when that same day I noticed that the CALM Act was passed. Now I am just waiting and hoping that congress gets off their collective asses already and puts this into law. Whats sad is I am in my 20's and still love listening to loud music at my discretion but these commercials are still overkill.
This message was from last October - Has anything been done to speed enactment of the law? Frankly, installing and maintaining equipment is a loophole that allows the cable companies to ignore the law absolutely.
Ms. Lacy --
The act was passed by Congress in December, as we reported at http://www.commlawblog.com/2010/12/articles/broadcast/shhhh-its-the-law/. It's now up to the FCC to implement it, a process which is likely to take a year or two.