II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1127 

To amend the CALM Act to include video streaming services, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 30, 2023 

Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself, Ms. DUCKWORTH, and Mr. BLUMENTHAL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend the CALM Act to include video streaming services, 

and for other purposes. 

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 Modernization Act of 2023’’ or 

6 the ‘‘CALM Modernization Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MODERNIZATION OF THE CALM ACT AND RULE2 MAKING ON LOUD COMMERCIALS ON 

3 STREAMING VIDEO. 

4 (a) AMENDMENTS.—The CALM Act (Public Law 

5 111–311; 124 Stat. 3294) is amended— 

6 (1) in section 2 (47 U.S.C. 621)— 

7 (A) by striking ‘‘Federal Communications 

8 Commission’’ each place the term appears and 

9 inserting ‘‘Commission’’; 

10 (B) by striking subsection (c) and insert11 ing the following: 

12 ‘‘(c) COMPLIANCE.— 

13 ‘‘(1) REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION.—There is a 

14 rebuttable presumption that any television broadcast 

15 station, cable operator, or other multichannel video 

16 programming distributor that installs, uses, and 

17 maintains in a commercially reasonable manner the 

18 equipment and associated software in compliance 

19 with the regulations issued by the Commission in ac20 cordance with subsection (a) is in compliance with 

21 those regulations. 

22 ‘‘(2) FACTORS TO DETERMINE REBUTTAL.—In 

23 determining whether the presumption of compliance 

24 under paragraph (1) has been rebutted with respect 

25 to a television broadcast station, cable operator, or 


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1 other multichannel video programming distributor, 

2 the Commission shall consider the following: 

3 ‘‘(A) The number of complaints regarding 

4 loud commercials the Commission has received 

5 with respect to that station, operator, or other 

6 distributor. 

7 ‘‘(B) Substantive patterns or trends from 

8 complaints on loud commercials the Commis9 sion has received. 

10 ‘‘(C) Data and conclusions in any report 

11 issued by a Federal agency (including the Gov12 ernment Accountability Office) regarding the 

13 effectiveness of this Act in moderating the loud14 ness of commercials in comparison with accom15 panying video programming. 

16 ‘‘(D) Any other factor established by the 

17 Commission by regulation.’’; and 

18 (C) in subsection (d)— 

19 (i) by redesignating paragraph (1) as 

20 paragraph (3) and moving it to appear 

21 after paragraph (2); 

22 (ii) in paragraph (3), as so redesig23 nated, by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the end and 

24 inserting a period; 


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1 (iii) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 

2 paragraph (1); 

3 (iv) in paragraph (1), as so redesig4 nated— 

5 (I) by striking ‘‘multi-channel’’ 

6 and inserting ‘‘multichannel’’; and 

7 (II) by striking the period at the 

8 end and inserting a semicolon; and 

9 (v) by inserting after paragraph (1), 

10 as so redesignated, the following: 

11 ‘‘(2) the term ‘Commission’ means the Federal 

12 Communications Commission; and’’; and 

13 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 3. RULEMAKING ON LOUD COMMERCIALS ON 

15 STREAMING VIDEO. 

16 ‘‘(a) RULEMAKING REQUIRED FOR LOUD STREAM17 ING VIDEO COMMERCIALS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

19 the date of enactment of this section, the Commis20 sion shall prescribe pursuant to the Communications 

21 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) a regulation 

22 that prohibits video streaming services from trans23 mitting the audio of commercial advertisements 

24 louder than the video content the advertisements acVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1127.IS S1127

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1 company in a manner that is similar in effect to the 

2 regulation prescribed under section 2. 

3 ‘‘(2) REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION.—In pre4 scribing the regulation under paragraph (1), the 

5 Commission may include a rebuttable presumption 

6 provision that is similar to the rebuttable presump7 tion under section 2(c) if it is practicable and war8 ranted for effective enforcement of this section. 

9 ‘‘(3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as provided in 

10 paragraph (4), the regulation required under para11 graph (1) shall take effect 180 days after the date 

12 on which the regulation is published in the Federal 

13 Register. 

14 ‘‘(4) EXTENSION OF EFFECTIVE DATE.—The 

15 Commission may extend the effective date described 

16 in paragraph (3) for 1 year for any video streaming 

17 service that demonstrates that complying with the 

18 regulation would result in significant financial hard19 ship. 

20 ‘‘(5) UPDATES.—The Commission shall update 

21 the regulation prescribed under paragraph (1) as 

22 necessary. 

23 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

24 ‘‘(1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘Commission’ 

25 means the Federal Communications Commission. 


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1 ‘‘(2) VIDEO PROGRAMMING.—The term ‘video 

2 programming’ has the meaning given the term in 

3 section 713(h) of the Communications Act of 1934 

4 (47 U.S.C. 613(h)). 

5 ‘‘(3) VIDEO STREAMING SERVICE.—The term 

6 ‘video streaming service’— 

7 ‘‘(A) means an entity that makes available 

8 directly to the end user through a distribution 

9 method that uses internet protocol— 

10 ‘‘(i) video programming; or 

11 ‘‘(ii) video content the entity makes 

12 available for users to view; and 

13 ‘‘(B) does not include— 

14 ‘‘(i) a television broadcast station, 

15 cable operator, or other multichannel video 

16 programming distributor (as those terms 

17 are defined in section 2(d)), only with re18 spect to commercial advertisements and 

19 video programming subject to section 2; or 

20 ‘‘(ii) an entity that serves video pro21 gramming or video content that is served 

22 without video commercial advertisements. 

23 ‘‘SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT. 

24 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Communications 

25 Commission shall implement and enforce this Act as if this 


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1 Act were a part of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

2 U.S.C. 151 et seq.). 

3 ‘‘(b) VIOLATIONS.—A violation of this Act, or a regu4 lation promulgated under this Act, shall be considered to 

5 be a violation of the Communications Act of 1934, or a 

6 regulation promulgated under that Act, respectively. 

7 ‘‘(c) NO CITATION REQUIRED.—Paragraph (5) of 

8 section 503(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

9 U.S.C. 503(b)) shall not apply to a determination of for10 feiture liability under that subsection against a person who 

11 commits a violation described in subsection (b) of this sec12 tion.’’. 

13 (b) GAO REPORT ON CALM ACT ENFORCEMENT.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

15 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comp16 troller General of the United States shall submit to 

17 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans18 portation of the Senate and the Committee on En19 ergy and Commerce of the House of Representatives 

20 a report on section 2 of the CALM Act (47 U.S.C. 

21 621), as amended by subsection (a), that— 

22 (A) analyzes the effectiveness of that sec23 tion in moderating the loudness of commercials 

24 in comparison to accompanying video program25 ming; 


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1 (B) evaluates the ability of the Federal 

2 Communications Commission to effectively mod3 erate the loudness of commercials in compari4 son to accompanying video programming under 

5 subsection (c) of that section; and 

6 (C) as appropriate, recommends policy so7 lutions that would enable better moderation of 

8 the loudness of commercials in comparison to 

9 accompanying video programming. 

10 (2) VIDEO PROGRAMMING DEFINED.—In this 

11 subsection, the term ‘‘video programming’’ has the 

12 meaning given the term in section 713(h) of the 

13 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 613(h)). 

Æ 


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