Bill would turn down the volume on commercials

A bill before the Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday would address a common complaint from television viewers: Commercials are too loud.

The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation, or CALM, Act, would limit the volume of TV ads, forcing broadcasters and cable providers to ensure they are no louder than the programs during which they appear.

The bill, which passed the House in December, was marked up Wednesday by the Commerce panel. Update: The bill was passed by the Committee and is now headed for vote on the Senate floor.

If the bill becomes law, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would have one year to implement new regulations.

"While the FCC has been aware of excessively loud television advertisements since 1954, it does not currently regulate the volume of television or radio advertisements. When television advertisements are many times louder than programming, it can be intrusive and disruptive to consumers," said a Senate aide who asked not to be identified.

The bill, originally introduced by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), would require the FCC to enforce technical standards from the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), an international, nonprofit organization that develops international standards for digital television.

Update: Eshoo sent the following statement in response to the committee approving the bill:

“I’m very pleased that the Senate Commerce Committee has passed the CALM Act and I look forward to its final passage. There was a three year effort in the House to make certain that video providers do what they should have done fifty years ago—allow consumers to control the sound levels of their televisions," Eshoo said. "Thanks to the leadership and hard work of Senators Whitehouse and Rockefeller, we’re one step closer to this goal.”

The committee will also mark up the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, which would ban online sales companies from enrolling consumers in services without their consent.