June 13, 2008 

Washington, DC – Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Palo Alto) introduced the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM Act) to address loud commercials. The bill would direct the FCC to enact within one year rules requiring that television advertisements not be excessively noisy.

“Most Americans are not overjoyed to watch television commercials, but they are willing to tolerate them to sustain free over-the-air television. What annoys all of us is the sudden increase of volume when commercials are aired,” Eshoo said.

“A TV program has a mix of audio levels. There are loud and soft parts. Nuance is used to build the dramatic effect. Most advertisers don’t want nuance. They want to grab our attention, and to do this, they record every part of it as loud as possible.”

“My legislation will reduce the volume of commercials in order to bring them to same level as the programs they accompany.”

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