Congress Gets One Right: No More Loud Television Commercials
by Big Hollywood
Can I get a chorus of Hallelujah:
The House passed has passed a bill that would bar TV commercials from being louder than the programs in which they appear. …
Rep. Anna Eshoo, the driving force behind the measure, said loud commercials are common complaint with the Federal Communication Commission.
But the FCC concluded in 1984 there was no fair way to write regulations controlling the “apparent loudness” of commercials, the AP says.
The California Democrat says the television industry, prodded by lawmakers, have developed their own guidelines that the bill incorporates.
Eshoo said the new legislation would force the industry to comply with its own standards. “Volunteerism hasn’t worked for 50 years,” she says.
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113 Comments
I have no idea if this report is accurate, but if so I'm glad. I not only hate loud commercials, but I find the whole practice of "compression" (if that's the right term for it) really annoying. I don't mind hearing noises in commercials if they're appropriate. I do NOT need to hear the actors' clothes rustling, their stomachs growling, or the breath whistling through their nose hairs.
On the other hand, it seems kind of pathetic that Congress took the time to address this not-very-pressing issue. I guess they have to handle the little stuff as well as the big stuff.
It seems like a silly thing, the loud commercials, but they are so annoying. I always hit the mute button when the commercials come on due to the outrageous volume, so I'm not really sure what they think they're accomplishing.
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so the one time Congress is right about something it's THIS…
It really highlights just how pathetic the so-called people's Representatives are. Ignore spending our greatgrandchildren's money, insulate themselves with high pay and superb health care, gerrymander districts so they cannot be challenged, and then call US names when we protest.
Yep, turn down those darn commercials! Your government at work…
I agreed. I will mute my TV everytime democrats and Obamba comes out on TV doing their infomercial.
Personally, I'd rather they keep their grubby mitts off of stuff* altogether, but little stuff is preferable to big stuff.
*National security issues excluded.
Just like Congress looking into the college football BCS.
Is it me?
Can't you folks turn the volume down on your own televisions, surround-sound systems, and stereos?!?!?! Are you REALLY that lazy that you need government to help you out?
Holy Hannah, my grandfather is rolling over in his grave… and I wish I was there with him!
You get a little sensitive to sound and all of a sudden government is the perfect solution. Hogwash! Utter nonsense, you bunch of jackasses.
Beware unintended consequences. I should be controlling the volume of my TV. I can lower the volume or mute or fast-forward past any annoying commercial. What world do we live in where we don't want the government in our bedroom, but think it's OK for it to be in the Family Room?
Meanwhile, my current favorite commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT2idh99bpw
From the original post: "Can I get a chorus of Hallelujah"
Hell no! Bunch of mamby-pamby nanny-state whiners.
My TV has a smart sound feature that does this automagically. And it's not a high end set.
Keeps ads from being louder than the program
And people with TIVO, which seems to be everybody but me, skip the ads all the time.
Seems technology has beaten Congress to the punch and the legislation is not necessary.
The House passed has passed a bill that would bar TV commercials from being louder than the programs in which they appear.
Does this mean that program producers will just make their programs louder?
This is inane…you can get a lot more peace and quiet if you just turn off the damn thing altogether.
Hallelujah! Score one point for appropriate government regulation. It may already be too late for my ears, but for the sake of ears yet unborn…
Interesting…..$12 Trillion Dollar Deficit, 10% Unemployment, 2 Wars, ACON CCI WFP WFO SEIU etc. etc. are all up to criminal activities, Barr Madcow Barfalo Olby Zinn Alex Baldwin have all stopped taken their meds, Hussein and his Posse of Clowns want Terrorists Trials in NY, Hussein corupted the NEA, Corupt USA Granted Scientists are LIARS, Nobel Peace Prize has lost all of its meaning, and Congress is worrring about loud TV commercials?
Please vote these idiots out ……..Remember to vote in 2010 and 2012
I realize this will be popular, but do we really need the government to tell stations how loud the volume can be? Seems to me that this is a little out of the scope of the founding fathers' intent for government.
Simple solution to loud commercials, record your favorite programs on a DVR and zip through the commercials. Most are lame, anyway.
In other news the Synchronized Stop Light Act of 2009 is facing little opposition in the Senate although in the House it might meet some friction.
Apparently the task of monitoring the stop lights affected by the bill is open to the lowest bidder, a business practice that Andy Stern of SEIU called completely "un-American."
The Government can have my remote when they pry from my cold dead fingers.
Congress will more likely balance out getting this right, by messing around and ruining the BCS.
I do the same thing. What good is a remote, if you don't use it properly?!
Actually, your DVD player is built so you cannot fast forward past certain parts. This has gone unchallenged, as far as I can tell, and I suspect it paves the way for similar treatment of your DVR first, and later your TV and stereo.
What a bunch of BS. To be annoyed with the practice of increasing the sound on commercials (which I am) is quite separate with the idea that IT IS THE GOVERNMENT'S PLACE to LEGISLATE that sound level (which I am totally against).
If this is okay, then what is off limits to a more and more intrusive government? This is how they suck you in, people. Vote for something that you might like to happen, but in the mean time establish the precedent that they can meddle with ANYTHING in our lives.
You guys who are for this ought to think this through.
Ah, free markets, some day they will return until then we have our nanny government poking into every crevice looking for ways to make us safer and help us decide what we really want to do.
BFD. My TV can be set up to keep audio levels the same between regular programming and commercials. Consumers drove this change, and the forces of capitalism brought it to market. Why legislators are not tackling bigger issues is not puzzling: it's because they're incompetent, self-serving morons who cannot function in any job where they are responsible for RESULTS.
I'd have only been impressed if they had legislated that Nancy Pelosi and Dick Durbin be muted.
Ha! Take that, American Movie Classics!
commercials ? You mean someone actually watches them and doesnt fast forward … how 90's
A broken clock is right twice a day.
Also, I know everybody thinks Congress should be working on big issues. To hell with that. Let them sweat the small stuff. The tiny issues are the only things Pelosi, Reid and the rest of these brain-farts can handle.
Thread Winner.
These loud commercials are annoying, but you´re right. In a sane world, it would not be the business of Congress. On the other hand, for every second they are distracted by this stuff, the nation can rest easier knowing that they are not burning another billion $.
Is there anything Congress doesn't stick their big nose in? Even though I hate commercials, this is just another rule imposed by "big brother".
Now if they could only do that with radio commercials…not that I don't love how thoroughly obnoxious the used car commercials are (I don't).
On a side note, if Billy Mays was still alive this announcement would probably mean the end of his career as I think it was physically impossible for him to be quiet.
I completely agree. We don't need to regulate and legislate everything.
Is this really what congress deems important? Sure, the loud commercials are annoying (and anithetical to selling anything – why use a practice that has consumers jumping for the mute button?). It's one of the many reasons I use a DVR and watch shows after they run. Here goes another thing for the government to mess up. Wasted money and time. It should be less government, not more.
Clarify, please. I've never had a problem fast forwarding a DVD. Then again my player is several years old.
Great point. Which is the exact defense I used for them working on a college football playoff bill!
When they are distracted but the unimportant, things like health care are safe for another day.
I was just thinking that… and I'm ashamed of my Representative heading this charge now (I guess he stole it from the Utah Senator that's just bitter because Utah never gets any good bowl games)…. which will just kick him in the arse later…
Eh, I just fast forward through them…. ah, the wonders of DVR…
Anyway, I remember hearing a lame reason a few years back that the commercials are loud because the companies expect that you have gotten up and left the room and they want you to hear it…
I had a tv that was supposedly supposed to do that… but it didn't work very well… :/
So now the Nanny Congress critters are taking over the "volume" button ? Is their a button on the remote to turn "them" off. I can turn down my own volume …Thank you. I like being of free mind to turn whatever I want on and off. The hits just keep on coming with these wackos.
Exactly, this is *not* a good idea. This is not Congress's job. I think Rep. Stearns is an "irritant", can we ban him too?
Now I just want to make a 60 second spot that is just an airhorn screeching. "But it's supposed to be loud! Its a airhorn!"
Plus, can a commerical really be "louder" than the show its on? Maybe for some sections of a quiet show but its still the same signal. Its not like the broadcasters give the commercials a special souped up radio wave.
Good move now its our turn to Zapp Congress in the 2010 election.
VOTE while you still can, obama will be after controlling that soon.
I agree that we don't need Congress for everything — to the point of almost being a Libertarian — but like enacting regulations against game show cheating this one makes sense. Just my .02.
Bad idea, guys.
I want the Government out of my business. Period. Including whether or not commercials are too loud.
Some sections, like certain previews, the lead-in from the menu in some disks, and the FBI warning against piracy for example… those are items that occasionally cannot be fast-forwarded through.
Which of course is a bulls__t move, since I've always been able to fast-forward through the FBI warnings on videocassettes.
IT'S CALLED A MUTE BUTTON, PEOPLE. LEARN TO USE IT.
I'm against this regulation mainly because I don't trust to Government to actually help even if they're intended goal is worthwhile. Why not petition tv makers to include some type of volume-leveling technology instead?
Don't think for one minutes that democrats won't morph this legislation to support the Fairness Doctrine or otherwise muzzle political dissent.
Think I'm nuts? Bet you never thought an American President would fire private industry CEO's and take over the census either.
I'd rather they return to their districts for a day then work on cr*p liket this.
When they wake my kids up, I don't buy their product.
I guess we are not that far away from it being illegal to turn OFF our TV's.
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That is an excellent strategy.
How about making TV's that allows the viewer to automatically mute and blank the screen during commercials, if they so choose. I mean, seriously, a talking lizard selling car insurance, or a cartoon bear telling me what toilet paper to use. To whom exactly are these commercials geared?
Oh that's right, Democrats and other such dim-wits who are easily influenced by childish nonsense.
We really needed an act of congress to do this!!??? This is as stupid as the football bill!!! These idiots still think they work for themselves and NOT us!! Get to work you bumbling idiots and do something that actually makes sense…I KNOW how to work my remote!!!!
Two out of control wars, heckle and jeckle in the W/H, corruption in Congress, the fed sinking the dollar, climategate, trillions in debt/deficits, and all the rest and this congresscritter wastes taxpayer's resources about some stupid television sound levels?? Oh, yeah she's a dem so what else would we expect? Just more crap to distract the proles from the real events.
Awesome. We can now add this to the list of things the folks in congress agree on:
1) Wars are cool if our party is in charge.
2) Spending insane amounts of money is cool if our party is in charge.
3) Election laws must be written to make it almost impossible for third-party candidates to run for office.
4) Loud commercials are bad.
Every day presents a fresh example of why the government is all but completely useless.
Yay! Congress did something!!!!!!
The vast majority of the legislation they crank out is not necessary. I have DVR (same thing as Tivo) and I skip the commercials. But mostly I just don't watch TV.
"harrumph!"
Now if they could just pass legislation to remove advertisements for upcoming shows that pop up during the program!
Compression can either be used to artificially move the volume of a commercial up or down, or keep the dynamic range within a specified range (very useful for things like live bands or public speakers). I'm not sure how they make the extraordinarily loud commercials (sometimes practically twice as loud as the show you're watching), but I'm all for them being required to keep the entire broadcast to a given maximum volume so you can set your TV accordingly and not worry about suddenly waking your neighbors.
Call me crazy, but I for one am thrilled about this. Sure I can turn the volume down, if I have my rear plopped in the chair next to the remote. But I'm generally watching while cooking dinner or doing laundry or many other things. When the show goes to a commercial and it's twice as loud as the volume at which you're watching the show, it's insane. I don't have a remote control holster in which to carry the thing around with me. If congress is going to waste our money holding hearings on steroids in baseball, they may as well spend some of their time doing something constructive, like this.
Yeah, one of my favorite parts of the Constitution is where it says Congress has the right to control the volume of the Town Cryers. If this kept them from tinkering with health care, okay, but they are sadly compable of multi-tasking.
Can we get the government to pass a law requiring you to not annoy anyone else?
It isn't the product or company that makes the commercial loud.
It is the guy in the Master Control booth. Start by lowering the volume on your television set or stereo system. If that doesn't work, you might try calling your local television stations, satellite service, or cabel provider.
If that doesn't work… petition the government to provide you with more cash so you can buy some special device to turn down the volume for you.
Of course it's laziness.
You can easily turn the volume down before the commercial starts… commercial breaks are fairly predictable and many programs have a lead out of the program before the commercial/spot.
Letting the government solve this so-called problem is asking for trouble… you might as well ask the government to pass a law so you don't have to be inconvenienced by silly things like lights that are too bright. After all, you don't want to go to someone's house or place of business and be hit by awful light glare from a 100 watt bulb.
Lazy jackassary.
You are the only one who has made a compelling argument FOR this legislation, sir.
(And I like your picture of Pullo.)
Sorry, Stickwick… you must now give up your Libertarian card.
So, what you're saying Jackie, is that you need a remote for your remote.
Perhaps you can petition the government to provide it for you… or better yet, perhaps the government can provide you with a set of DVDs burned with programs you like with all those commercials and announcements edited out so you don't have to be bothered.
NO, it is not a good thing!!!
It is not the concern of the government. The FCC should have no regulatory control over content. Yes, this is a very small thing. But this is where it all starts. Next they will want to ban junk food commercials, and everyone that supports this will be hypocrites. Freedom means freedom, not just the stuff you like.
Back to Reason for me, where they aren't hypocrites.
Wrong BG. No chorus of Hallelujahs. Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong
Loud commercials are annoying, no doubt about it, but Congress has to get involved? I guess the silver lining is that if they are "solving" these urgent matters, they are not meddling with things that really matter.
Actually they are meddling with things that matter as well as those that do not, maybe it is time we got a whole new congress.
Read the bill carefully. I'm sure there's an exception in there for Obama to keep the volume loud.
I'm a libertarian, but I'm also a flawed human — we all have a weak spot, and this is mine — so I'm giving this bill a thumbs up. I wish it had also stipulated that people who make irritating/stupid/inane/ironically-detached commercials shall be hung by their toes and pelted with rotten bananas by agitated chimps.
Ferzackly!
It is not the government's role to be regulating how loud commercials are on TV. All you "Libertarian" thinkers out there who applaud this micromanaging of our lives and businesses simply because it accords with your personal druthers should be ashamed!
…next up, Congress takes on the GIGANTIC TYPE in newspaper ads
which is much larger than the font used in the news stories, and
PEOPLE WHO TYPE LOUDLY (IN ALL CAPS)
IN WEB SITE COMMENTS.
Anything that annoys people must be controlled by Congress,
an annoyed populace is much harder to control.
I agree with others who say 'do it yourself'. Never applaud anything that comes out of congress. Look at what they present with a skeptical eye and then, if it meets your approval, go "harrumph", nod, and be about your business.
There is no reason fro commercials to be louder than the normal program. They do this so the company supplying the commercials will be sure to make you hear the commercial. If I were listening to TV late at night I would not want to disturb others trying to sleep just to make the commercial draw my attention. There are technical reasons for certain standards in the TV broadcast industry and having a standard for the level of audio modulation doesn't seem onerous. It is just a nusiance to have to constantly raise the TV volume level every time a commercial comes on, not lazyness.
Like a live and let live policy?
It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with laziness. I live in an apartment building and if I'm watching TV (usually FOX) at 2:00AM, only to have that unbelievably annoying animal rights commercial come on at twice the volume, why should my neighbors have to lose sleep because I wasn't close enough to the remote control to protect them? The issue was addressed by the FCC as it should have been, but they punted the ball so Congress set a standard. I'm more than happy they are doing that rather than spending all their time trying to figure out how to force their health care plan or cap & trade on us.
I didn't get a "harrumph" from that guy!! **couldn't help it, its my fave comedy movie ever… **
"why should my neighbors have to lose sleep because I wasn't close enough to the remote control to protect them?"
1) Because it is the networks' perogative, and
2) Because it's not anyone else's fault but your own that you don't: a) have the remote closer to you, b) watch at a more reasonable hour, or c) keep the volume low enough during the program to compensate for the commercial.
"Some sections, like certain previews, the lead-in from the menu in some disks, and the FBI warning against piracy for example… those are items that occasionally cannot be fast-forwarded through."
You can almost always do something, be it using the chapter search or jumping to the main menu. but even if you can't, SO WHAT? People have this weird notion that it's somehow wrong when the things they buy do things they don't like. How about you solve it through the free market? Or is that an outdated concept?
Congress, get out of my TV! License the stations, if you must. But leave the content up to them.
"There is no reason fro commercials to be louder than the normal program. They do this so the company supplying the commercials will be sure to make you hear the commercial."
I sense a disconnect between these two sentences.
"If I were listening to TV late at night I would not want to disturb others trying to sleep just to make the commercial draw my attention."
This sentence makes no sense whatsoever.
"There are technical reasons for certain standards in the TV broadcast industry "
One of which this is certainly NOT. Nor is forced digital broadcasting, but that's another matter.
"It is just a nusiance to have to constantly raise the TV volume level every time a commercial comes on, not lazyness."
You are too lazy to counteract the "nuisance" (which I in no way mean in a legal sense).
I get the idea when I'm watching network TV that the loud commercials are the ones run by the local affiliate. They are usually lower quality or for some local company so I know they are not running nationally. My assumption has always been that the volume difference is because of the difference sources of the feed. In which case, how will they possibly enforce this if it is all of these local violations. Oh I know, we can create a new bureaucracy.
My problem is rewinding. I still have trouble figuring out how to rewind a DVD before I take it back to Blockbusters.
Not really… that would open up a few inintended consequences.
What I mean is: Anytime some damn fool comes around asking for the government to fix a so-called problem (like volume on a television) they can get a tax rebate for getting put into a nursing home or some other place were other people can take care of them…
…as they are in cabable of dealing with life on their own.
Just to add my two cents:
I don't think this one is right. I think this is very wrong. I'm a big boy, I can mute or turn down the commercials if I want to.
If it's OK for congress to adjust my TV volume, then what about my thermostat? What about my lights? This is yet another incremental encroachment, albeit a small one, on what happens at my house.
Laws should NOT be passed just because it seems like a good idea.
In the USA, you watch TV.
In the USSA, the TV watches you.
Wow, I shouldn't watch TV at hours you don't approve of? That's some outstanding logic. {sigh}
Have the remote "closer"? I swear, half the people on this site are complete and utter morons. Who watches TV with the remote in their hand? Who doesn't walk away from the TV to go to the bathroom, the kitchen, or do something else around the house (I'm a musician, so I often practice while I watch). It's a small thing and I wouldn't cry if they didn't do it. However, some of the nutters around here act like it's the first step in them coming into the house with guns drawn to force you to watch government approved TV. Dudes, lighten up. You sound like the tin foil hat wearing brigade.
Turns about and drops my jeans..
Ok TV, watch this!
Scuse me while I whip these out: "Hurrumph, harrumph"
Had to make up for that guy that dropped the ball.
Actually, I kind of like your idea for a remote control holster! Can you imagine how well they would sell?
Ok who wants to be in the infomercial?
If you notice here in the comments, most of us dont support this.
Everytime I hear the phrase "There oughta be a law against (fill in the blank)" cast out so carelessly, I usually follow with up with; "We have too many laws already."
hallelujah.
So, bigger government is okay as long as it is banning something you don't like?
Why was government action needed? Oh, because Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla wanted to watch football without loud commercials.
No one is forced to watch television, so how is it right to force broadcasters to change their practices simply because we find some them annoying? How long before someone finds something you are doing annoying and passes a law forcing you to change your ways or fines and eventually jail if you refuse to pay?
The larger government gets, the smaller we get.
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