Tuesday, December 15, 2009

CALM

I don't watch a lot of TV, but I really can't stand the volume increase for commercials. Why would people actually PAY them money to have them jack up the commercial advertisement volume?

I don't know if this is the answer, but I certainly like the message:
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) is no longer alone her quest to bring down the volume of loud TV commercials. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has joined in the crusade to keep ads from blasting us out of our living rooms every 10 minutes.

The bills--both called the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (or CALM) Act--are crowd pleasers. Eshoo has 62 co-sponsors. The bill easily passed the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet in October and then by the full Commerce Committee last month. The bill is expected to hit the House floor today.

I think it is a great use of Congress' time. Maybe not quite as good as a year long filibuster.

But becareful, they might try to tack on ObamaNationalizedCare and Cap&Tax as amendments.

2 comments:

  1. If I remember my EE classes right, it's not intentional--the volume is simply spread among fewer frequencies but has the same overall magnitude.

    Of course, I'm not a big TV watcher, so.....

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  2. people I know in the commercial industry (so maybe they know, or maybe they talk big ;) ) have said its purposeful, to get people's attention in an increasingly overloaded world ... happens on radio, too ... it would be nice if it stopped, but I'm pretty sure freedom of expression would take down that law if it passes.

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