House OKs bill to lower the volume on loud TV commercials

Taylor wrote:
ntvnat Dec. 16, '09


House OKs bill to lower the volume on loud TV commercials

The House passed has passed a bill that would bar TV commercials from
being louder than the programs in which they appear.

The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM) passed
Tuesday on a voice vote, presumably expressed at a comfortable level.

It now goes to the Senate, which is considering an identical bill, the
Associated Press reports.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, the driving force behind the measure, said loud
commercials are a 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, has developed its 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.

Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., responded to critics who asked why
Congress had to get involved in the matter.

"You can say: 'Well, that's fine. Just turn it off,' " Stearns said.
"But it's constantly an irritant when you have to do it. And we've got
all the new bowl games coming up."

(Posted by Doug Stanglin)

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...-commercials/1

It's kind of sad it has come to this, some of the local channels
really abuse the sound thing.
But it's a good start, next should be to limit the amount of time
commercials are allowed per half hour or hour. I think there are some
limits already, if there are they still allow way to many commercials
time per show.
I don't think I've watched a complete Jeopardy or local news show,
TLC, Military channel show, most all of them, because I tend to reach
for the remote and find something other than a commercial after the
third or forth commercial.
I've counted up to 5 channels before finding one that isn't running a
commercial. Ever notice how NBC, CBS and ABC all run their commercials
at the same time on the evening news?

In article ,
Todd Allcock wrote:

At 18 Dec 2009 14:01:49 -0800 Stewart wrote:
On 12/18/2009 1:00 PM, Taylor wrote:
ntvnat Dec. 16, '09


House OKs bill to lower the volume on loud TV commercials...

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...2009/12/house-
oks-bill-to-lower-the-volume-on-loud-tv-commercials/1

A complete and utter waste of taxpayer money.

It's amazing how most people think almost every bill/law is a complete
and utter waste of money/time/etc...

...unless it's something important to THEM.

Well, personally there's a few things that are important to me but that
I nevertheless recognize are either too trivial or none of the business
of the government.

The public really needs to get out of the mentality that there should be
a federal law addressing every single thing that annoys them in life.

Per RichA:
ANYTHING that would remove this
annoyance would be welcome. The studio scum/networks might even find
that fewer people download commercial-less programs because of it.

Look into Tivo or the various PC-based applications that allow
recording shows to hard drive and playing them back later.

I have one of the latter and can't remember the last time I
watched a show "live" - or sat through more than a second or so
of a commercial.

Fast forward or "skip" when watching a hard-drive-based recording
are nearly instantaneous.
--
PeteCresswell

Thanatos wrote:
In article ,
Todd Allcock wrote:

At 18 Dec 2009 14:01:49 -0800 Stewart wrote:
On 12/18/2009 1:00 PM, Taylor wrote:
ntvnat Dec. 16, '09


House OKs bill to lower the volume on loud TV commercials...

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...2009/12/house-
oks-bill-to-lower-the-volume-on-loud-tv-commercials/1
A complete and utter waste of taxpayer money.
It's amazing how most people think almost every bill/law is a complete
and utter waste of money/time/etc...

...unless it's something important to THEM.

Well, personally there's a few things that are important to me but that
I nevertheless recognize are either too trivial or none of the business
of the government.

The public really needs to get out of the mentality that there should be
a federal law addressing every single thing that annoys them in life.


Yes, I assume you will be discussion something important like the health
care issue any minute now.

In RickMerrill
wrote:

They are a problem for relationships: commercial comes on, wife says
"turn it down", i say "ITSA ACOMMERCIL!" aFTER the commercial, wife
says "turn it up" ...


No "mute" button on your TV?

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN

"RickMerrill" wrote in message
...
Stewart wrote:
On 12/18/2009 2:06 PM, Bert Hyman wrote:
In Stewart
wrote:

A complete and utter waste of taxpayer money.

Every "good idea" must be made into law.

Soon, everything that is not illegal will be mandatory.

Surely you knew that.


But of course. Even so, loud commercials aren't a problem....if it
affects your hearing, just use the soon to be new and improved
health care system.

They are a problem for relationships: commercial comes on, wife says
"turn it down", i say "ITSA ACOMMERCIL!" aFTER the commercial, wife
says "turn it up" ...

So if the tv broadcasters actually DO this it will be great.
However,
some ads are inserted by the network, some by the local station, and
some by the cable company - now how are "ads" to be identified and
who is going to measure the results? Not me! Oh wait, I have a
built in measuring device called 'wife.'


Well, at least the measuring device is infallible...

"Bert Hyman" wrote in message
. ..
In RickMerrill
wrote:

They are a problem for relationships: commercial comes on, wife
says
"turn it down", i say "ITSA ACOMMERCIL!" aFTER the commercial,
wife
says "turn it up" ...


No "mute" button on your TV?

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN

Actually, a mute button for the wife might be a better option!

"RichA" wrote in message
...


Stewart wrote:
On 12/18/2009 1:00 PM, Taylor wrote:
ntvnat Dec. 16, '09


House OKs bill to lower the volume on loud TV commercials

The House passed has passed a bill that would bar TV commercials
from
being louder than the programs in which they appear.

The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM)
passed
Tuesday on a voice vote, presumably expressed at a comfortable
level.

It now goes to the Senate, which is considering an identical
bill, the
Associated Press reports.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, the driving force behind the measure, said loud
commercials are a 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, has developed its 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.

Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., responded to critics who asked why
Congress had to get involved in the matter.

"You can say: 'Well, that's fine. Just turn it off,' " Stearns
said.
"But it's constantly an irritant when you have to do it. And
we've got
all the new bowl games coming up."

(Posted by Doug Stanglin)

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...-commercials/1

A complete and utter waste of taxpayer money.

Would you cry this way if it was to be used to reduce car congestion
in cities, or something like that? ANYTHING that would remove this
annoyance would be welcome. The studio scum/networks might even
find
that fewer people download commercial-less programs because of it.

We don't need more laws controlling our everyday life, and this has
nothing to do with public safety. The best way to control things like
this is by the consumer wallet, to not purchase products or services
of the offenders, and tell them why you didn't purchase their
products.
Beyond that, many of us here use DVRs and skip commercials (30 and 60
second skip buttons are other ways of controlling these offensive
commercials). I rarely watch anything that I can't do that with
except for sporting events.

Most of them (commercials) the content is an attack on one's
intelligence. It's hard to believe that people get paid good money to
think of this crap.

"Todd Allcock" wrote in message
...
At 18 Dec 2009 14:01:49 -0800 Stewart wrote:
On 12/18/2009 1:00 PM, Taylor wrote:
ntvnat Dec. 16, '09


House OKs bill to lower the volume on loud TV commercials...

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...2009/12/house-
oks-bill-to-lower-the-volume-on-loud-tv-commercials/1

A complete and utter waste of taxpayer money.

It's amazing how most people think almost every bill/law is a
complete
and utter waste of money/time/etc...

...unless it's something important to THEM.



It's just not that big of a deal. Don't like them, don't watch them
or mute them. Don't purchase the products of the ones that offend you
the most (which is what I do, but I the mindless content more
offensive to me than the volume).
Maybe congress should enact a law that controls the cerebral quality
of the content.

"trotsky" wrote in message
...
Thanatos wrote:
In article ,
Todd Allcock wrote:

At 18 Dec 2009 14:01:49 -0800 Stewart wrote:
On 12/18/2009 1:00 PM, Taylor wrote:
ntvnat Dec. 16, '09


House OKs bill to lower the volume on loud TV commercials...

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...2009/12/house-
oks-bill-to-lower-the-volume-on-loud-tv-commercials/1
A complete and utter waste of taxpayer money.
It's amazing how most people think almost every bill/law is a
complete
and utter waste of money/time/etc...

...unless it's something important to THEM.

Well, personally there's a few things that are important to me but
that I nevertheless recognize are either too trivial or none of the
business of the government.

The public really needs to get out of the mentality that there
should be a federal law addressing every single thing that annoys
them in life.


Yes, I assume you will be discussion something important like the
health care issue any minute now.

You mean the one that will land the insurance companies billions of
dollars in revenue from the millions of new consumers that will be
forced to fill their roles with taxpayer subsidized funds?

Off topic for these groups.....