II 

Calendar No. 625 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2847 

To regulate the volume of audio on commercials. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 8, 2009 

Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. JOHNSON, Mrs. MURRAY, 

Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. NELSON of Florida, Mrs. MCCASKILL, and Mr. 

ROCKEFELLER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2010 

Reported by Mr. ROCKEFELLER, with an amendment 

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

A BILL 

To regulate the volume of audio on commercials. 

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’’ or the ‘‘CALM Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. RULEMAKING ON LOUD COMMERCIALS REQUIRED. 

2 (a) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.—Within 1 year after 

3 the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Commu4 nications Commission shall prescribe pursuant to the 

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

6 regulation that is limited to incorporating by reference the 

7 ‘‘Recommended Practice: Techniques for Establishing and 

8 Maintaining Audio Loudness for Digital Television’’ (A/ 

9 85), and any successor thereto, approved by the Advanced 

10 Television Systems Committee, only insofar as such rec11 ommended practice concerns the transmission of commer12 cial advertisements by a television broadcast station, cable 

13 operator, or other multichannel video programming dis14 tributor. 

15 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

16 (1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Federal Commu17 nications Commission shall prescribe that the regula18 tion adopted pursuant to subsection (a) shall become 

19 effective 1 year after the date of its adoption. 

20 (2) WAIVER.—For any television broadcast sta21 tion, cable operator, or other multichannel video pro22 gramming distributor that demonstrates that obtain23 ing the equipment to comply with the regulation 

24 adopted pursuant to subsection (a) would result in 

25 financial hardship, the Federal Communications 

26 Commission may grant a waiver of the effective date 


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•S 2847 RS

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

2 such waiver for 1 additional year. 

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

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

5 the meaning given such term in section 325 of the 

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

7 (2) the terms ‘‘cable operator’’ and ‘‘multi8 channel video programming distributor’’ have the 

9 meanings given such terms in section 602 of Com10 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522). 

11 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

12 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Commercial Advertise13 ment Loudness Mitigation Act’’ or the ‘‘CALM Act’’. 

14 SEC. 2. RULEMAKING ON LOUD COMMERCIALS REQUIRED. 

15 (a) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.—Within 1 year after the 

16 date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications 

17 Commission shall prescribe pursuant to the Communica18 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) a regulation that 

19 is limited to incorporating by reference and making man20 datory (subject to any waivers the Commission may grant) 

21 the ‘‘Recommended Practice: Techniques for Establishing 

22 and Maintaining Audio Loudness for Digital Television’’ 

23 (A/85), and any successor thereto, approved by the Ad24 vanced Television Systems Committee, only insofar as such 

25 recommended practice concerns the transmission of comVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:23 Sep 29, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2847.RS S2847

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•S 2847 RS

1 mercial advertisements by a television broadcast station, 

2 cable operator, or other multichannel video programming 

3 distributor. 

4 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

5 (1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Federal Communica6 tions Commission shall prescribe that the regulation 

7 adopted pursuant to subsection (a) shall become effec8 tive 1 year after the date of its adoption. 

9 (2) WAIVER.—For any television broadcast sta10 tion, cable operator, or other multichannel video pro11 gramming distributor that demonstrates that obtain12 ing the equipment to comply with the regulation 

13 adopted pursuant to subsection (a) would result in fi14 nancial hardship, the Federal Communications Com15 mission may grant a waiver of the effective date set 

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

17 such waiver for 1 additional year. 

18 (3) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this sec19 tion affects the Commission’s authority under section 

20 1.3 of its rules (47 C.F.R. 1.3) to waive any rule re21 quired by this Act, or the application of any such 

22 rule, for good cause shown to a television broadcast 

23 station, cable operator, or other multichannel video 

24 programming distributor, or to a class of such sta25 tions, operators, or distributors. 


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

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

3 the meaning given such term in section 325 of the 

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

5 (2) the terms ‘‘cable operator’’ and ‘‘multi-chan6 nel video programming distributor’’ have the mean7 ings given such terms in section 602 of Communica8 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522). 


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Calendar No. 625 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2847 

A BILL 

To regulate the volume of audio on commercials. 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2010 

Reported with an amendment 


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