Omni Brain

OMG it’s a Christmas Miracle! Congress passes law to get rid of loud commercials.

Posted by The Omnibrain on December 6, 2010
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Or is it a ‘Holiday’ miracle now? Anyway…

Finally, Congress passes a piece of legislation that citizens on both the right and left side of the political spectrum can get behind. Late yesterday, Congress approved the CALM (Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation) Act, which “requires TV advertisers to ensure their ads don’t play at a volume louder than regular TV programming.” The new bill requires ad makers to use “industry technology” to prevent the volume annoyance from occurring.

I CAN NOT WAIT!

Oh and Obama better pass it. I’ll be very upset if he doesn’t.

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Comments

  1. #1 Kevin R
    December 6, 2010

    No, a miracle would be Congress showing some responsibility in dealing with the economy, the TSA, the banking industry, energy policy, climate change, intellectual property and the apparently endless wars on terrorism and drugs,and other pressing and essential issues requiring some level of national leadership. Instead we get quieter commercials and apoplexy over Julian Assange.

    If this is the best miracle christmas can deliver, I will continue to thank god that I am an atheist.

  2. #2 01Jack
    December 6, 2010

    I never look at television, and have been without it so many years that I’ve become un-accustomed to the way it sounds.

    When I occasionally hear do hear it, such as when visiting somebody else’s home, It sounds to me as if nearly everyone is shouting. Especially announcers or program hosts, but even most comedy and drama characters, are all speaking with both excessive loudness and force. If it’s different during the commercials, I never noticed, but could easily have missed it.

    It’s quite annoying; I find it hard to endure for longer than necessary.

    But it does strike me as curious that I am having such a different experience from that of regular television viewers.

  3. #3 MOD
    December 7, 2010

    I suspect you won’t notice much difference. In the UK adverts are not allowed to be louder than the program but it still *seems* that they are. This is because they make the loudest thing in the commercial (usually the ‘tag line’) as loud as a gun fight or explosion or ‘nearby train’, etc in whatever show I’m watching. The quietest thing in the advert is usually a little louder than someone yelling in the show.

  4. #4 Dunc
    December 7, 2010

    Yeah, you can set your peak loudness to be the same as the programme material but still sound louder, by compressing the audio so that everything is at peak loudness.

  5. #5 э̀иэЯ
    December 8, 2010

    It’s not just the volume. What to me is the most annoying is the editing out of all natural pauses between sentences. (It sure as hell wears me out every time before I have located the remote.)

  6. #6 dean cameron
    December 8, 2010

    Why on earth would you want your government involved in this? You’re too lazy to hit mute?

  7. #7 Sesli
    December 15, 2010

    That way there are checks and balances.