FCC Issues CALM Act NPRM

The Federal Communications Commission has quietly released its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on implementation of the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act, which regulates the loudness of commercials on broadcast and cable TV.

It puts the onus on stations and cable operators to mitigate that loudness on all commercials, not just those that are locally inserted, as some industry representatives had argued it should be limited to. The NPRM also asked for input on what challenges some stations and cable operators will have in complying with the new rules, and even more important, proposed solutions. Among the questions it wants answered are if a cable operator retransmits a TV station whose commercials don't comply, who does the FCC hold responsible? The FCC said it will add a "commercial loudness" category to its menu of complaints over "Broadcast (TV and Radio), Cable, and Satellite Issues." The CALM Act empowers the FCC to regularize the volume between programming and commercials. It adopts the Advanced Television Systems Committee's recommended practices for variations in commercial volume in relation to the programs around them.