FCC Plans To Ban Loud Commercials

While advertising online is becoming increasingly popular, especially with all of the people around the world who now use the Internet on an almost daily basis, television advertisement is still in the lead because there are so many television viewers. In fact, millions of dollars are spent each year for all types of television advertisements designed to target audiences and get them to buy certain products. However, changes to these commercials are expected to take place, according to AOL Daily Finance.

Have you ever noticed, while watching television, some commercials are simply louder than other commercials? This may be an annoyance to you, as the consumer, because you will constantly have to adjust the volume on your remote. However, you will no longer need to do this very soon. The Federal Communications Commission, most commonly referred to as the FCC, is making plans to control the volume levels of the commercials that are displayed on the television. The act that is taking place is called the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, also referred to as the CALM Act. This act was designed to control the loudness of certain commercials.

The Federal Communications Commission says, “The rules adopted today require that commercials have the same average volume as the programs they accompany.”  They also say, “They carry out Congress’ mandate to give viewers relief from overloud commercials while avoiding unnecessary burdens on television stations and MVPDs [multichannel video programming distributors].”

The fact of the matter is, too many of these commercials are just too loud and there have been tons of complaints. Television watchers from all over have called in to complain against these commercials that are simply just too loud, which is unnecessary. The chairman for the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, has said, “The Commission has received almost 6,000 complaints or inquiries about loud commercials since 2008.” He also says, “So I’m pleased that we have crafted a process that will protect consumers from inappropriately loud commercials, while remaining sensitive to resource constraints of small broadcasters and subscription TV providers.”  The television providers must make it their responsibility to ensure that these commercials are not too loud when they are displayed on the television.

While many people support the CALM Act, some people beg to differ. For example, Commissioner Robert M. McDowell believes that television simply will not be the same without some of these overly loud and obnoxious commercials. Some of these commercials include sales commercials for products such as OxyClean and the ShamWow.

It is believed that the rules on commercial loudness will not take effect until December of 2012 which means that loud commercials will still be displayed on the television until then. Whether or not you are a fan of this act, in just about a year, there will no more obnoxiously loud commercials on your television.