Gordon supports bill on loud TV ads on The Murfreesboro Post

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Gordon supports bill on loud TV ads

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Posted: Friday, December 18, 2009 3:20 pm

WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives took an important step toward putting an end to blaring television advertisements by passing the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act, H.R. 1084.

The bipartisan bill will prevent television advertisements from playing at a volume noticeably above the programs during which they air.

“Nearly every TV viewer has experienced it at some point – you’re watching a television show and then when it goes to commercial, an excessively loud advertisement is played in an attempt to grab your attention,” said Gordon, a cosponsor of the bill. “Under the CALM Act, TV viewers won’t have to have to dive for the mute button because of these loud television ads.”

Loud commercials have been at the top of consumer complaints to the Federal Communications Commission for decades. Current FCC policy recommends that consumers “mute” commercials if they find them excessively loud.

The CALM Act codifies industry-developed standards issued in November 2009 to prevent overly loud commercials. “The CALM Act is an easy fix to a big nuisance. TV viewers should be able to watch their favorite shows without having to be harassed by these excessively loud advertisements,” added Gordon.

The CALM Act previously was approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, of which Gordon is a member. Having passed the House, the bill will now move to the Senate for consideration.

Tagged under Bart Gordon

Member Opinions:

By: ItsGood on 12/18/09
Does this include political ads?

By: Citizen on 12/18/09
Thank you, Bart.

By: cbeagle1 on 12/18/09
Thank goodness someone is finally trying to do something about this!

By: tammyo2002 on 12/18/09
Thanks Bart...I'm going to miss you when you retire!

By: devolver on 12/19/09
Ya know, its a real shame that legislation has to be passed for TV stations to normalize the volume on commercials. It would be great to see the industry self-regulate a bit.

By: biker on 12/19/09
Is this kind of crap really worthy of the attention of the Congress of the United States of America??? I don't think so.

By: devolver on 12/19/09
I think most people would agree that the volume being much louder for commercials than for TV programs is extremely annoying. Seeing how the folks on Capitol Hill work for us, I'd say yes, it absolutely is the kind of crap worthy of their attention.

By: canalou on 12/23/09
What? Whiners? Huh? What say you? Couldn't hear you for the whines and loud TV commercials...thanks Bart...you could walk on water, and still be criticized...