Ever notice when the volume of a commercial is vastly louder than the dialogue in your favorite TV show? U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., hopes to do something about it. According to press reports, Eshoo is sponsoring a bill that would require the FCC to "preclude commercials from being broadcast at louder volumes than the program material they accompany."
The Big Four may already be attempting to address the problem, however. "The major television broadcast networks, including ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox, are each, individually, implementing policies that attempt to control loud commercials," said David Donovan, president of the Association for Maximum Service Television, or MSTV, a broadcast industry trade group.
Thank you! I’m so sick of scrambling for the remote to turn down the volume when it goes from regular to a loud Metallica concert in less than a second-and it’s especially annoying when it’s a frigging male ED commercial!!!
its what primates do!
It’s annoying, but I don’t think Congress needs to get involved.
I absolutely think congress and anybody else who is fed up with the media determining the “volume” of a commercial -vs- program…this is ridiculous…and if you don’t think anybody albeit media, congress, or joe schmoe should not get involved you are a discredit to sane people…
when and what will it take for a normal person to get this done…
FINALLY someone uses their power in government for something good. I would SO be behind this. I HATE loud commercials.
Press that little down arrow button labelled under “volume” on your remote.
Jonathon, it might sound like people are being lazy, but I shouldn’t have to sit there with the remote in my hand, nervously awaiting the commercial breaks so I can turn down the volume. I shouldn’t have to find myself jumping a foot off the damn sofa every time I let my guard down, and I shouldn’t have to find myself getting oddly angry at the station for having the show’s volumes too damn soft to hear. It’s just one of advertisers’ terrible methods of trying to stay “effective” in the DVR age, and it’s annoying as Hell. Good for everyone involved in trying to effect change; hope we get something like that going on in Canada, too.
It’s about d*****d time! My husband goes to bed a lot earlier than I do and I either have to have the volume so low I can’t hear the show or sit like everyone else and hope I can hit mute before the sound wakes him up! Its unreal how commercials echo throughout the house. Not only commercials but sometimes musical interludes in movies are just as bad! Hope they work on that too!
I agree with Jason, the self-satisfied oh so simple trite answers one sees in comments sections like this tend to never be smart, witty or even sensible as their originator thinks.
I’m supposed to glue the remote to my hand? Sit on my a** and never dare move from the TV?
Jonathan, this isn’t a matter of people being too lazy to use the volume control. It’s obnoxious of commercial producers to send masters with inordinately high volumes. It’s tantamount to me walking into your living room and hitting that little up arrow button labeled “volume” every time a commercial break starts. Are you cool with someone doing that because all you have to do is press volume down afterward?
Using tricks like this to get people to pay attention to commercials is desperate and irritating. Just because people instinctively react to the sound of a small child crying doesn’t mean that sound should be insert that sound at the beginning of TV commercials. Making people pay attention when they’ve made a choice not to is effing rude. Thank goodness for DVRs.
Jim, actually Congress does have to get involved, because it’s a federal legislative issue. Who else writes federal laws?
This kind of legislation angers me. It is a frivolous use of the Representative’s time, and our money.
FINALLY! While I agree this is not the best way of our reps to spend there time during this financial crisis, I’m also up late every night and really loud commercials are just beyond annoying so I’ll take it!
(Don’t bail out the loud commercials!)
Anna Eshoo for President in 2012
I remember back in the 80′s and/or 90′s, when this same subject was brought up, there were studies (sponsored by Ad groups no less) that stated that ads were no louder than the T.V. shows themselves. It was just ads had “better sound quality”. That was BS then as it is now. I now watch most shows online and you can really notice how frackin’ LOUD those thing are!
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oops, sorry if that was too loud. I’ve gotten used to shouting over the commercials.
What I’ve noticed is that it isn’t the network’s commercials that are loud, but rather the commercials that the affiliates air during their allotted time. You can tell immediately when it is a locally paid commercial because you jump for the remote to lower the volume before it wakes the neighbors. CNN’s Headline News is worst about this. I nearly jump out of my skin each time it happens.
it’s not just local….get a grip on reality e4ia