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Union Calendar No. 219 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1084 

[Report No. 111–374] 

To require the Federal Communications Commission to prescribe a standard 

to preclude commercials from being broadcast at louder volumes than 

the program material they accompany. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2009 

Ms. ESHOO (for herself, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Ms. 

SUTTON, Mr. SIRES, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. 

BISHOP of New York, Ms. WATSON, Ms. SCHWARTZ, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN

of California, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. HARE, 

Mr. HONDA, Mr. CAPUANO, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. 

DICKS, Mr. CROWLEY, Ms. LEE of California, and Ms. LORETTA

SANCHEZ of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

DECEMBER 14, 2009 

Additional sponsors: Mr. ROTHMAN of New Jersey, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, 

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. COHEN, 

Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. ELLSWORTH, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. SMITH of Washington, 

Mr. WEINER, Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. WOOLSEY, 

Mr. HOLT, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. PASCRELL, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. CARNEY, Mr. 

MURTHA, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. FARR, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. PAYNE, 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. OBEY, Mr. ARCURI, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. 

HINCHEY, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Ms. KILROY, Mrs. 

MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. 

TONKO, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia, Mr. 

MCNERNEY, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. 

SLAUGHTER, Mr. MEEK of Florida, Mr. MARKEY of Massachusetts, Mr. 

THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. COOPER, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. CARNAHAN, 

Ms. BERKLEY, Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. HIGGINS, 

Mr. KAGEN, Mr. STARK, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. HALL of New York, Mr. 


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•HR 1084 RH

ANDREWS, Mr. BARROW, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. 

BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. MCINTYRE, and Mr. NYE

DECEMBER 14, 2009 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To require the Federal Communications Commission to prescribe a standard to preclude commercials from being 

broadcast at louder volumes than the program material 

they accompany. 


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•HR 1084 RH

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Commercial Advertise5 ment Loudness Mitigation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RULEMAKING ON LOUD COMMERCIALS REQUIRED. 

7 (a) REGULATION REQUIRED.—Within one year after 

8 the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Commu9 nications Commission shall prescribe pursuant to the 

10 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) a 

11 regulation that provides, in connection with any video pro12 gramming that is broadcast or that is distributed by any 

13 multichannel video programming distributor, that— 

14 (1) advertisements accompanying such video 

15 programming shall not be excessively noisy or stri16 dent; 

17 (2) such advertisements shall not be presented 

18 at modulation levels substantially higher than the 

19 program material that such advertisements accom20 pany; and 

21 (3) the average maximum loudness of such ad22 vertisements shall not be substantially higher than 

23 the average maximum loudness of the program ma24 terial that such advertisements accompany. 


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•HR 1084 RH

1 (b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 

2 terms ‘‘video programming’’ and ‘‘multichannel video pro3 gramming distributor’’ have the meanings given such 

4 terms in section 602 of Communications Act of 1934 (47 

5 U.S.C. 522). 

6 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

7 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Commercial Advertise8 ment Loudness Mitigation Act’’ or the ‘‘CALM Act’’. 

9 SEC. 2. RULEMAKING ON LOUD COMMERCIALS REQUIRED. 

10 (a) REGULATION REQUIRED.—Within 1 year after the 

11 date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications 

12 Commission shall prescribe pursuant to the Communica13 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) a regulation that 

14 is limited to incorporating by reference the ‘‘Recommended 

15 Practice: Techniques for Establishing and Maintaining 

16 Audio Loudness for Digital Television’’ (A/85), and any 

17 successor thereto, approved by the Advanced Television Sys18 tems Committee, only insofar as such recommended practice 

19 concerns the transmission of commercial advertisements by 

20 a television broadcast station, cable operator, or other mul21 tichannel video programming distributor. 

22 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

23 (1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Federal Communica24 tions Commission shall prescribe that the regulation 


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•HR 1084 RH

1 adopted pursuant to subsection (a) shall become effec2 tive 1 year after the date of its adoption. 

3 (2) WAIVER.—For any television broadcast sta4 tion, cable operator, or other multichannel video pro5 gramming distributor that demonstrates that obtain6 ing the equipment to comply with the regulation 

7 adopted pursuant to subsection (a) would result in fi8 nancial hardship, the Federal Communications Com9 mission may grant a waiver of the effective date set 

10 forth in paragraph (1) for 1 year and may renew 

11 such waiver for 1 additional year. 

12 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

13 (1) the term ‘‘television broadcast station’’ has 

14 the meaning given such term in section 325 of the 

15 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325); and 

16 (2) the terms ‘‘cable operator’’ and ‘‘multi17 channel video programming distributor’’ have the 

18 meanings given such terms in section 602 of Commu19 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522). 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 219 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1084 

[Report No. 111–374] 

A BILL 

To require the Federal Communications Commisthan the program material they accompany. cials from being broadcast at louder volumes sion to prescribe a standard to preclude commerDECEMBER 14, 2009 Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS