House votes to turn down volume of noisy TV ads

[Roland99]

Source: Associated Press

The bill -- approved by a voice vote -- is aimed at stopping TV ads from playing noticeably louder than programs.

Supporters say the measure would alleviate a common irritation that leads consumers to scramble for the mute button as they watch their favorite shows.

The legislation requires the Federal Communications Commission to adopt guidelines developed by the TV industry.

...

An identical measure has been introduced in the Senate.

Read more: http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=courier-journal&sParam=32305773.story

[Lerkfish]

1. well, as long as they're doing something useful

:sarcasm:

[apnu]

39. No kidding, now that we have this important law, lets investigate Baseball, again. (NT)

[enlightenment]

2. Wow. I'm so impressed with the multi-tasking abilities of our

Congress-critters. Now we won't have to be annoyed by those pesky loud commercials trying to sell us stuff we can't afford to buy while we try to figure out how to keep a roof over our heads as we scrape together pennies to pay the inflated cost of our newly mandated health insurance premiums.

My life is complete.

[Jamastiene]

30. +1

[4_TN_TITANS]

38. rofl.... great response! n/t

[Tunkamerica]

3. As someone very close to this situation...

there is not one thing you could besides having a guard stand behind each board operator at each link of the chain and there would still be discrepancies between audio sources. You could make a fine but the FCC is already so backlogged that you'd never collect. And that would push legitimate offenses even further down the docket.

And do people complain when the commercials are softer than the program? That happens too.

[kirby]

6. I dont think...

we are talking about a small deviation. Most people know from their own experience that cable companies are screaming commercials to get peoples attention. This intrusion must come to an end. Even having a measurable guideline will allow for some compliance rather than the wild west mentality currently in effect.

[Roland99]

24. IMO, CBS is the worst offender. Esp. during their primetime lineup

[superconnected]

14. That's not how this works. Nobody is standing there adjusting the volume - I work in IP TV. What

this fixes is the commercials won't be sent to tv stations with way higher volumes attached to the footage now.

[Tunkamerica]

36. you don't qc?

we set levels on every commercial we put into the server.

it's more about compression and the illusion of loudness. Also, what about barter commercials? Who gets fined if the syndicator puts loud commercials in Seinfeld or whatever? Is it the syndicator? No, it's the stations who have little control. We already have to ride the levels between sources.

Stations already get fined when the Networks have obscene material on their network feeds, will networks be fined for loud commercials? No it'll be local stations. The backlog alone is reason enough to not like this bill. Also, it's totally subjective. How loud is too loud. What if the program's level is low on purpose, due to subject matter or whatever? When a normal volume commercial comes on it'll seem likes it blasting.

I realize this is not worth arguing about, it's just got so many holes it's ridiculous. It's a waste of time.

[Newsjock]

4. Next on the Democrats' bold agenda for 2010

Stiffer fines for people who bring 12 items into the checkout reserved for 10 items or fewer. It is a national priority.

[ima_sinnic]

26. LOL! you owe me a monitor

:spray:

[Jamastiene]

31. +1

[jberryhill]

5. BUT IT'S A BLANKET - WITH SLEEVES!!!!!111!ELEVEN

Finally, you can read, watch TV, eat, and deaf-sign interpret - ALL WHILE STAYING WARM.

This is quite possibly mankind's greatest singular accomplishment.

[MikeE]

10. This seems strangely appropriate here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWHlvtWhum0

[thelordofhell]

17. It's a long robe.......you put on backwards

[jberryhill]

18. BLASPHEMER! INFIDEL!

[thelordofhell]

32. My apologies to the Zaosiwasho cult

:evilgrin:

[jberryhill]

34. The Council Will Consider Your Plea

...but only if you ACT NOW - SUPPLIES ARE LIMITED!



We hold to the True Snuggie, and not the separatists with their designer prints.

[David__77]

35. I've actually taken to wearing a robe backwards around the house.

It's very functional lol...

[truthisfreedom]

7. I'm 100% behind this. Some cable channels are absolutely egregious... if only it could be applied

to cable as well.

[AndrewP]

8. Thank goodness that they were able to get something really important done!

[high density]

9. Good luck enforcing that

I'd rather see them ban the annoying pop-in ads/bugs/etc on TV shows.

[treestar]

11. Doesn't this go against the corporations?

This is one thing the corporatists do to us, is it not? And are they not evil? I don't get the outrage here. If the commercials are quieter, we won't be forced to buy their stuff or forced to vote for the candidates who work for them. In fact it is too amazing these corporate sellouts would do this. :sarcasm:

[corpseratemedia]

12. they can do this

but they can NOT do something vital that the public needs..something that the PUBLIC would FUND..

[d_b]

13. noisy ad make consumer angry

angry consumer no likey be mad

[superconnected]

15. I don't watch tv very often, but I'm glad they did this.

[DainBramaged]

16. Except for M$NoBodyCares, Discovery and Speed, I stopped watching 'network' and cable

too many commercials, to little programing.

[VWolf]

19. I only watch soccer

No ads, no problem.
(I mute & visit the can at halftime)

[seabeckind]

20. I think a much better approach

might be to mandate to TV manufacturers that the volume control actually control the db level of the speakers. That way if you're watching a movie and all of a sudden it gets really loud to "enhance your experience" it won't blow out an eardrum. As I get older I find I am much more sensitive to loud noises.

Then next we might get a mandate to fix all those f'in remotes I have sitting around with 20 buttons on each that I don't use. No, this is a tv control, I don't want it to rewind my VCR.

Didn't we used to have standards before bidness started running the henhouse?

And lastly, what the f' does "adopt guidelines developed by the TV industry" mean? Huh? Who works for who? I thought they have a privilege to operate based on license.

</rant>

[VWolf]

21. I only watch soccer

No ads, no problem.
(I mute & visit the can at halftime)

[Hassin Bin Sober]

22. Billy Mays is spinning in his grave.

[Jamastiene]

29. Spin, Billy, Spin.

He was the worst offender ever. I've never seen anyone shout that loud without being angry.

[Earth_First]

23. Never notice this on PBS

Alot of the reason that I quit watching cable & network television was becasue Billy Mays screaming at me for OxyClean.

PBS advertises PBS programming. I can live with that.

[Odin2005]

25. About damn time!

I HATE that BS, especially with my sensitive ears.

[ima_sinnic]

27. oooh, their corporate sponsors aren't going to like this!

or was this part of the "deal"?

give us everything we want in military spending and in health care "reform," and we'll make you look good by letting the TV commercial audio thing go by.

[Turbineguy]

28. Oh! I'm so grateful!

I just realized. It wasn't the wars, wingnuts or HCR. It was the commercials!

[go west young man]

33. How about instead the FCC force the major cable providers

to give the American people real choice. You can't tell me that in the digital age it's not possible to choose the exact channels one wants instead of tiered programming. Personally I'm fed up with all the crap they throw in. religious programming, Faux noise, crap cop shows. I only crave some hi def channels, Bear Grylls and Comedy Central plus a little Keith and rachel. Otherwise the rest is shite. Europe has much better options than the US.

[BennyD]

37. Good!! I can't stand the commericals blaring on the telly or the radio. n/t