2009.06.16
Congress to crack down on blaring TV commercials? Tell me what you think.
Did you ever want to kick your too-loud TV? (From Wiki Commons)
For years, I've marveled every time a straight-faced television broadcaster or broadcasting industry rep denied commercials were louder than TV programs.
It is a fiction on par with the notions that cigarette smoking doesn't cause cancer, the Earth is flat and the moon is made of green cheese.
Utter hogwash, no matter what excuse those industry types mouthed about audio modulation and sound density or intensity.
Now it appears Congress may finally do something. Perhaps the industry, tired of all the complaints (or of coming up with pathetic attempts to debunk them) will fix the problem first. We'll see.
This may be the subject of an upcoming column, and for that I'd like to hear your thoughts.
- Are TV commercials too loud?
- How do you deal with that?
- Is this something Congress should get involved in?
Post your answers as comment below.
The trick they've always used is to limit the dynamic range so that every part of the commercial is equally loud, and then set the overall level equal to the show's peak level. Occassional volume peaks in the show can be shrugged off easily, whereas the constant blaring of the ad is obnoxious. But it's still technically not louder than the show.
Comment by Mark — June 16, 2009 @ 1:50 pm
I've noticed this quite a lot more as our TV speakers are going out. It definitely seems like the ads are louder. We bypass that by never watching live TV and instead skipping the ads with our DVR. The only time I watch live TV is for sports, and even then I usually pause the game during breaks to go to the kitchen for food, or to throw something on the grill...so I can skip the commercials later on. I don't know if we really need Congressional action on it, they do enough already and not too well I might add.
Comment by Other John — June 16, 2009 @ 2:22 pm
They (Congress) doesn't have enough to do? Would be a sad state, in my opinion, if they waste time with this.
Comment by Ed S. — June 16, 2009 @ 4:19 pm
I am so glad that Congress has nothing else of importance to occupy its time. I guess Congress doesn't have mute buttons on their TVs.
Comment by Kelly Hoge — June 16, 2009 @ 4:26 pm
Yeah, it's freaking annoying but is this yet another thing Congress really needs to get involved in? Where does it end??? How about they actually work towards something that's important...
Comment by Roanoke RnR — June 16, 2009 @ 5:54 pm
Imagine if Congress would focus on real problems such as the economy, illegal aliens, terrorism, overhaul of the broken banking, financial, and educational systems. But I guess regulating Slap Chop or Oxyclean must come first.
Comment by Kelly Hoge — June 16, 2009 @ 6:45 pm
Billy Mays is not a happy camper.
Comment by Art Hill — June 16, 2009 @ 7:11 pm
I dont need the government to fix all my problems like some do. I cant imagine they have nothing else better to do.
Comment by Lisa in Hollins — June 17, 2009 @ 9:09 am
Annoying, Yes....but not really what I want Congress wasting their time on.
Comment by Brendan — June 17, 2009 @ 10:54 am
I know I'm in the minority here, but I'm glad to hear that something will be done about this. Congress never gets anything important accomplished, so something this small would be enough to appease me. Sad, I know, but Congress has worked on more ridiculous legislation (just try watching CSPAN) that has had no effect on my life at all, whereas this is something that affects our household every day. Too many times I've been watching the boob tube in the middle of the night while my baby was drifting to sleep on his "boob tube" (a.k.a. Me) only to have one of those damned commercials come on and wake him up. Inevitably the remote would be half-way across the room when this would happen and I would curse silently and try to shush my wailing newborn. Therefore, I'm all for quieter commercials, and if Congress doesn't tackle this, how else is this going to get fixed?
Comment by A Mom — June 17, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
The FCC should have taken care of this issue years ago, but they are busy doing other, oh what the heck is it they do?
Comment by Alma — June 17, 2009 @ 2:38 pm
Can't stand commercials!!!! Could live solely on PBS format. I hit mute or turn the channel. It seems that there is another group who should be taking care of such issues. So why not?
Comment by deda — June 17, 2009 @ 6:43 pm
after i actualy read the article, the whole plan makes more sense. the fcc is whats involved and because this was initiated the commercial advertisers have decided that maybe they should handle this on their own and prevent goverment from steeping in.... i agree the ad's are horrible, im enjoying some relaxing time watching something just to get blown away by a commercial.
however it is long over due to have something done about it, goverment cant seem to do much good, just look at our economy so atleast this might be one postive thing they can do with out bankrupting more of the american people.
Comment by actualy read the article — June 18, 2009 @ 8:58 am
I'm not sure how technology has changed since the 80's, but way back then it was up to the party that "dropped" the actual spots into the programming. If it was a national ad that was placed in the program we (the distributor) had to make sure all the levels, video and audio, were good before dropping the spot in and shipping the tape out to the local stations. If it was a local spot then it was up to that particular television station to make sure the levels were within range since they were the ones who dropped them in. We had audio and video scopes to make sure everything was in order. If it was too "hot" the stations would complain and sometimes wouldn't run it which meant the distributor would have to "make good" on the ad so that didn't happen too often.
Comment by Roanoke RnR — June 18, 2009 @ 12:20 pm
Thank goodness the government is willing to step in.
Comment by Roanoke Ron — June 20, 2009 @ 10:17 pm