WASHINGTON, DC – President Obama has signed into law the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act, which when implemented will prevent television advertisements from playing a volume noticeable higher than the programs during which they air.

 

“For decades, viewers have been inconvenienced by the wildly fluctuating volumes played during the commercials of their favorite television programs,” said Congressman Mike Thompson (D – St. Helena). “The CALM Act is a long overdue fix to this problem faced by millions of television watchers. I am proud to have been the first coauthor of Congresswoman Anna Eshoo’s legislation, which has now been signed into law.”

 

This new law will require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to limit the volume of audio on commercials transmitted by television broadcast stations, cable operators, and other multichannel video programming distributors.

The FCC must begin enforcing these new rules within one year.

“With the President signing the CALM Act into law, the top consumer complaint to the Federal Communications Commission for over a half century is now addressed,” said Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D – Menlo Park). “Consumers will no longer need to dive for the ‘mute’ button during commercial breaks. This would not have been possible without Congressman Mike Thompson’s critical support. He was the first Member of Congress to become an original cosponsor of the legislation. This is a commonsense solution to a national nuisance and without Congressman Mike Thompson it simply would not have been possible.”

S. 2847, the CALM Act passed the United States Senate unanimously on Sept. 29, 2010 and passed the United States House of Representatives by a voice vote on Dec. 2, 2010.

The original House companion of the bill, H.R. 1084, was authored by Congresswoman Eshoo, and cosponsored by Congressman Thompson, on Feb. 13, 2009.