FCC Passes Rules to Turn Down the Volume on Loud Commercials

Those loud TV commercials that annoy everybody have only one more year to live. The Federal Communications Commission passed rules Tuesday to implement the 2010 Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, or CALM Act.

The rules, which go into effect Dec. 13, 2012, require that the loudness of commercials be at the same average volume as the programs in which they air. Cable operators and programmers have one year to meet the standards and certify that commercials comply with the rules.

Signed into law a year ago by President Obama, the CALM Act gave authority to the FCC to address the problem of excessively loud commercials.

The CALM Act was sponsored by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif.