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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1084 Reported in House (RH)]

                                                 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. 
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.

 

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

<DELETED>SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    This Act may be cited as the ``Commercial Advertisement 
Loudness Mitigation Act''.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 2. RULEMAKING ON LOUD COMMERCIALS REQUIRED.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) Regulation Required.--Within one year after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall 
prescribe pursuant to the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et 
seq.) a regulation that provides, in connection with any video 
programming that is broadcast or that is distributed by any 
multichannel video programming distributor, that--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) advertisements accompanying such video 
        programming shall not be excessively noisy or 
        strident;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) such advertisements shall not be presented at 
        modulation levels substantially higher than the program 
        material that such advertisements accompany; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) the average maximum loudness of such 
        advertisements shall not be substantially higher than the 
        average maximum loudness of the program material that such 
        advertisements accompany.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the terms 
``video programming'' and ``multichannel video programming 
distributor'' have the meanings given such terms in section 602 of 
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522).</DELETED>

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Commercial Advertisement Loudness 
Mitigation Act'' or the ``CALM Act''.

SEC. 2. RULEMAKING ON LOUD COMMERCIALS REQUIRED.

    (a) Regulation Required.--Within 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall prescribe 
pursuant to the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) a 
regulation that is limited to incorporating by reference the 
``Recommended Practice: Techniques for Establishing and Maintaining 
Audio Loudness for Digital Television'' (A/85), and any successor 
thereto, approved by the Advanced Television Systems Committee, only 
insofar as such recommended practice concerns the transmission of 
commercial advertisements by a television broadcast station, cable 
operator, or other multichannel video programming distributor.
    (b) Implementation.--
            (1) Effective date.--The Federal Communications Commission 
        shall prescribe that the regulation adopted pursuant to 
        subsection (a) shall become effective 1 year after the date of 
        its adoption.
            (2) Waiver.--For any television broadcast station, cable 
        operator, or other multichannel video programming distributor 
        that demonstrates that obtaining the equipment to comply with 
        the regulation adopted pursuant to subsection (a) would result 
        in financial hardship, the Federal Communications Commission 
        may grant a waiver of the effective date set forth in paragraph 
        (1) for 1 year and may renew such waiver for 1 additional year.
    (c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
            (1) the term ``television broadcast station'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 325 of the Communications 
        Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325); and
            (2) the terms ``cable operator'' and ``multichannel video 
        programming distributor'' have the meanings given such terms in 
        section 602 of Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522).
                                                 Union Calendar No. 219

111th CONGRESS

  1st Session

                               H. R. 1084

                          [Report No. 111-374]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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.

_______________________________________________________________________

                           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
```