FCC Proposes Rules to Lower Volume of TV Commercials

Rules proposed by the Federal Communications Commission to implement the Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation Act signed into law last December by President Obama were issued for public comment on May 27, 2011. If adopted, the rules could cost the TV industry tens of millions of dollars to purchase equipment ensuring television commercials are no louder than other programs.

The FCC’s proposed rules would require cable operators, broadcast stations, and other multichannel video programming distributors (‘MVPDs) to adopt a mandatory technical standard developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee, an international nonprofit organization that develops voluntary rules for digital television.

Several thousand television broadcast stations will be forced to comply with the CALM act, with the FCC providing oversight and enforcement, by purchasing and using equipment that controls the volume of programming before it gets to the consumer. This equipment ranges in price estimated from a few thousand dollars to $20,000 per device. All told, the CALM Act may end up costing the industry tens of millions of dollars.

Underwhelming Public Demand
The CALM Act passed the Senate unanimously last September, and the bill passed the House of Representatives on December 2, 2010.

Since 2008 the FCC has received 819 complaints and 4,582 inquiries from consumers regarding loud commercials. Despite this underwhelming public demand, the CALM Act was signed into law by President Obama on December 15, 2010, giving the FCC one year to adopt rules for implementation.

Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA), who introduced the bill, told the Wall Street Journal in December the CALM Act is the most popular piece of legislation she has sponsored in her 18 years in Congress.

“If I’d saved 50 million children from some malady, people would not have the interest that they have in this,” she said.

Adopt ATSC Standards
The FCC maintains the CALM Act merely means enforcing ATSC standards, neither modifying nor strengthening them.

These rules would apply to all commercials transmitted by a broadcaster or MVPD, with no exceptions for third-party content providers. These third-party content providers are usually agencies producing local advertising who in order to get their clients’ spots noticed may resort to employing higher sound volume.

The implementation of the CALM Act will require both broadcasters and content providers to buy equipment to moderate the sound or face fines.

‘Regulatory Overreach’
Not everyone supports the CALM Act or the FCC’s implementation of it. Joe Barton (R-TX) exemplified the view that consumers and the industry could handle any problems adequately, wroting in the CALM Act’s Dissenting View, “This is not a problem that calls for Congressional action. Consumers do not need the government to come into their homes and operate their remote controls for them.”

Kathy Hoekstra, a veteran radio and television broadcaster and a communications specialist at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a Michigan-based free-market education and research institute, agrees with Barton.

“Yes, many people are annoyed by commercials that are louder than the program they’re watching,” she said. However, she continued, “Apparently, the 6,000 or so television viewers who felt compelled to register their annoyance with the FCC since 2008 must not know how to use their remote to lower the volume or press the mute button during commercials like the rest of the millions of people watching television in the United States.

“The federal government has enacted a law that effectively places electronic duct tape over the mouth of the late Billy Mays and other commercial hawkers,” Hoekstra added. “Yet another example of regulatory overreach into the business of broadcasting and the living rooms of Americans is anything but calming, in my opinion.”

Kyle McGrath (kylemcgrath@hotmail.com) writes from Waterford, Michigan.

Internet Info:

“Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Matter of Implementation of the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act,” Federal Communications Commission, May 27, 2011: http://www.heartland.org/infotech-news.org/article/30331/Notice_of_Proposed_Rulemaking_in_the_Matter_of_the_Implementation_of_the_Commercial_Advertisement_Loudness_Mitigation_CALM_Act.html

“The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act,” Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA), December 14, 2009: http://www.heartland.org/infotech-news.org/article/30332/Commercial_Advertisement_Loudness_Mitigation_Act.html

“Guide: Program Noise and Loud Commercials,” Federal Communications Commission Web site: http://www.fcc.gov/guides/program-background-noise-and-loud-commercials