Q&A on the News

Q: Wasn’t a law passed a year ago about the excessive volume of TV commercials? Didn’t it state that they couldn’t be louder than the TV show?

— Penny Sweezey, Fayetteville

A: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had received 19,194 complaints from Dec. 13, 2012, when the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act went into effect, through Nov. 6, according to a report by Rep. Anna G. Eshoo, D-Calif., the bill's co-author. "By any measure, that is a lot," FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement last month. "Viewers are — quite literally — reaching out to us and asking us to take action." The report stated that 13,606 of the complaints were referred to the FCC Enforcement Bureau and other complaints were still under review. It also stated that there were 3,501 complaints from June 1 to Sept. 30, 53 percent fewer than the previous four months. "I'm very pleased that the loudness standards set in place by the CALM Act are working," Eshoo said. "Fewer complaints suggest that fewer TV commercials are airing at volume levels inconsistent with the programming around them. For consumers, this means they're finally getting relief from the earsplitting volumes of the past." The CALM Act states that TV commercials must have the same average volume as the programs they accompany. "A commercial may have louder and quieter moments, but, overall, it should be no louder than the surrounding programming. This may mean, however, that some commercials will comply with the new rules, but still sound 'too loud' to some viewers," the FCC states on its website.