US Congress Set to Fix "Too Loud" TV Ads

[Acturus]

I found some interesting humor in this article. The Spinal Tap reference in a WSJ piece caught me by surprise, but I am hopeful that this completely silly piece of legislation passes.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...947058366.html

Well, Hush My Mouth: Congress Is Moving Against LOUD Ads
After Decades of Complaints, Law Makers Are Yielding to Popular Demand
By DANIEL MICHAELS And ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON

Couch potatoes of America, listen up. Congress may be just days away from turning down the volume on ear-splitting TV.

The Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation, or CALM, Act follows rules set last year by a United Nations body in Switzerland on how to measure and clip broadcast volumes. The U.S. bill, inspired by decades of consumer complaints, should finally ban TV ads that blare louder than the programs they interrupt.

California Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo, who sponsored the bill, says it is the most popular she has pushed in her 18 years in Congress. "If I'd saved 50 million children from some malady, people would not have the interest that they have in this," she says.

When Washington first considered TV loudness in 1984, regulators said there was no objective way to quantify and control it. That left advertisers free to turn up the volume.

Arriving at standards to separate the deafening from the merely loud has required years of auditory analysis, mathematical modeling and international debate.

"You might wonder, why can't these stupid sound engineers make all the sound at the same level?" says David Wood, an audio expert who chairs a working group on the issue at the U.N.'s International Telecommunications Union in Geneva, admitting surprise that the project has taken so long. "It's not the engineers' fault, it's the physics' fault," he explains.

For years, broadcasters' standard definition of "too loud" has simply been a level on volume meters that overloads electrical circuits and distorts soundtracks. Ads aren't supposed to exceed the peak loudness of the programs they interrupt.

Here's the catch: The "peak" is often merely a spike, such as a gunshot piercing the silence of a movie mystery. Ad producers, meanwhile, crank every bit of sound to just below that peak level. The result often drives viewers batty: A program ebbs into a commercial break with a bit of quiet dialogue, and then an ad explodes at volume just shy of a bomb blast.

Industry officials insist that this isn't done just so consumers can't ignore commercials. It's because sound mixers are simply trying to one-up the volume of adjacent ads. The result is an arms race for listening ears.

"It's precisely the same as 'Spinal Tap,'" says Thomas Lund, a manager at Danish audio-equipment producer TC Electronic, which makes loudness controls. Mr. Lund is referring to the mock heavy-metal band in the movie whose guitarist uses amplifiers with dials that top out at 11, "one louder" than the standard maximum of 10.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has gotten an earful about loud ads from millions of irate viewers since the 1950s. But as other countries have mandated eardrum-saving technology, America's broadcasting regulator's website still advises citizens that "the mute button on TV remote control is also useful."

FCC officials are ready to act on loudness. "Isn't it the most annoying thing in the whole world?" says FCC spokeswoman Jen Howard. "It drives my husband crazy—I mean he already hates TV, and he's like, 'Why is the TV so loud?'"

The question has dogged broadcasters for a long time. In the 1970s, sound experts at CBS Laboratories in Connecticut studied the arcane field of psychoacoustics, developing the first algorithms and equipment to tame loudness. But then in the 1990s, digital broadcast technology boosted enormously the spectrum of sound that could be pumped down a signal, exacerbating the problem. Fortunately, digital technology also permitted new solutions.

To develop equipment that could average volume across broadcasts, specialists at Dolby Laboratories in San Francisco a decade ago tested listeners' perceptions of sounds ranging from voices to footsteps.

The human guinea pigs generally concurred on the loudness of speech but disagreed wildly about the volume of other noises, says Jeffrey Riedmiller, director of Dolby's sound platform group. Dolby concluded that human ears are attuned to talking, so TV should be attuned to talking, too.

Dolby in 2002 released a machine that could identify speech and keep loudness at a similar level. "We got loudness back on the radar," boasts Mr. Riedmiller.

The ITU and Europeans then pushed beyond speech, analyzing auditory oddities like the deceptively greater loudness of high notes than of low tones. "We had to see through the mist of what sounds loud," says Mr. Wood at the ITU.

Progress came just as the U.S. switched to digital TV and its deafening dynamic range. Consumers screamed for change. In the first quarter of this year, the FCC fielded 132,416 complaints on electronic broadcast issues, chief among them booming ads. That's a 1,259% spike from the previous quarter.

As new ITU rules emerged last year, self-interested British broadcasters set their own loudness rules.

"Advertisers don't want viewers to hit mute," says Lindsay Taffe, spokeswoman for the British Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice. The trade group in February censured a U.K. network for running loud ads during episodes of a series about Sherlock Holmes.

Australia, Brazil, France, Israel and Russia have also regulated the loudness of TV ads.

Rep. Eshoo says she tuned into the issue because her elderly parents live with her, and her father cranks up the TV to compensate for poor hearing. Ads were "enough to blast me off the couch and out of my own home," she says.

The CALM Act is slated for a final House vote this week, winning precious time in a December lame-duck session alongside issues including middle-class tax cuts and funding the federal government. In September the measure was addressed by the Senate, where dozens of bills have died this year amid partisan strife. It broke the political gridlock long enough to pass by unanimous consent.

There may be bigger legislative issues. But Ms. Eshoo says constituents are stopping her on the street to thank her for the bill.

"I never promised it would resolve the huge challenges facing our country," she says.

Write to Daniel Michaels at [email protected] and Elizabeth Williamson at [email protected]

[aurik]

Why the hell is gov't regulating this? Just make TVs that can normalize volume levels. I'd like a TV that sensed advertisements and automatically muted. Stop regulating and start innovating, I say.

[Surealistic]

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY PASS THIS SHIT, i think id rather they pass this than legalize pot, and im a freaking pot head

[Callisto]

Please dear god yes, AMC's shows are great and they consistently show movies I like but way too many times I've been left with bleeding eardrums due to the huge volume discrepancy between their programming and their ads.

[Olo401]

I thought this had already been implemented by a FCC regulation..

[Correction]

Too bad it won't pass the senate until every millionaire gets a permanent tax break: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/12/...ex.html?hpt=T1

[Acturus]

I thought this had already been implemented by a FCC regulation..

Unless you're thinking of something else, the only limitation I'm aware of is the one referenced in the article, that advertisements cannot be louder than the loudest volume spike of a program.

[Demosthenes11]

im so glad they are working on things that matter.

[aurik]

Well it doesn't matter what they work on, nothing is going to get passed until we renew the 0% estate tax rate.

[archibaldcrane]

When Washington first considered TV loudness in 1984, regulators said there was no objective way to quantify and control it.

As someone who works in television...

captainpicardwtfisthisshit.jpg

Right. There's no way to objectively set volume caps. HAHAHAHAHA.

[Niiro]

I'd like a TV that sensed advertisements and automatically muted.

^
My parents had a fucking VCR from more than a decade ago that, when playing back recorded TV, would auto-detect and fast forward through commercials.

So why the fuck something like this has not been implemented by now is seriously beyond me.

[aurik]

You know damn well why it hasn't been implemented.

[Ksandra]

As someone who works in television...

captainpicardwtfisthisshit.jpg

Right. There's no way to objectively set volume caps. HAHAHAHAHA.

I think they mean on the tv end not the show/commercial production end. And that was in 1984, I remember our tv in 1984, I'll believe it. (stupid nob turny piece of heavy shit).



I will say though that networks can regulate what's given to them at a lower volume than the "spike".

When hubby did the show on animal planet they used to have that issue. AP had a set volume they couldn't go over, which was fairly low, so they had to constantly turn their shit down for approval.

[Niiro]

You know damn well why it hasn't been implemented.

Too easy to do and too massively popular?

idk

[Ksandra]

Too easy to do and too massively popular?

idk

same people that make commercials also fund money to politicians.


equally, politicians make commercials during election times.

[Rhyis.]

Too easy to do and too massively popular?

idk

http://www.iandrinstitute.org/Fist%20of%20Money.gif

[Niiro]

same people that make commercials also fund money to politicians.


equally, politicians make commercials during election times.

What does implementing an auto-mute function have to do with politics or legislation.

Think we're talking about 2 different things here.

[Ksandra]

What does implementing an auto-mute function have to do with politics or legislation.

Think we're talking about 2 different things here.

...no company is going to want to lower the use of insanely effective advertising, which also helps sells those tvs in the first place.

[Niiro]

Ah, that explains why DVRs are so unpopular and force you to watch commercials.

[Yuri-G]

http://www.tvtopten.com/direct/wp-co...billy-mays.jpg

rolling in his grave.