"Loud Commercial" Legislation Proposed In US Congress

Hackajar writes "Have you ever caught yourself running for the volume control when a TV commercial comes on? Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA) has, and is submitting legislation that would require TV commercials in the US to stay at volume levels similar to the programming they are associated with. From the article: 'Right now, the government doesn't have much say in the volume of TV ads. It's been getting complaints ever since televisions began proliferating in the 1950s. But the FCC concluded in 1984 there was no fair way to write regulations controlling the "apparent loudness" of commercials.'"

Comments

I watched TV for the first time in years recently

[N0Man74]

After being TV free (only watching shows digitally on my PC for several years) and going back to Cable and Satellite TV was a shocker. I had forgotten how bad this could be. There were commercials that would distort on the television speakers because they were so loud.

It may seem like a small problem, but constantly fidgeting with the volume every commercial in order to prevent waking up other family members, or falling asleep during a show and being startled awake by a very loud commercial is a huge nuisance.

I wonder if some advertisers just make their commercials really loud to stand out, or if broadcasters are paid extra in order to allow the ads to be loud.

Re:I'd much rather...

[Afforess]

In defense of the advertisers, how are they supposed to know how loud the commercials should be? The producers aren't given copies of the shows beforehand; it's not like they know ahead of time.

Before everyone begins assuming some sinister plot, maybe we should just stop and think a moment. The Advertisers wants everyone to hear the ad, so they just aim a bit high, so that it will always be heard. It's better than the alternative, where ad's are too soft to be heard, because then, advertisers will pay less for ads and TV stations will either need more ads for the same amount of broadcasting or will go out of business.