IB 
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. ACK-
ERMAN, 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. 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:14 Dec 15, 2009
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6652
E:\BILLS\H1084.RH
H1084
tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
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 pre-
scribe a standard to preclude commercials from being 
broadcast at louder volumes than the program material 
they accompany. 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:14 Dec 15, 2009
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6652
E:\BILLS\H1084.RH
H1084
tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Commercial Advertise-
ment Loudness Mitigation Act’’. 
SEC. 2. RULEMAKING ON LOUD COMMERCIALS REQUIRED. 
(a) REGULATION REQUIRED.—Within one year after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Commu-
nications 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 pro-
gramming that is broadcast or that is distributed by any 
multichannel video programming distributor, that— 
(1) advertisements accompanying such video 
programming shall not be excessively noisy or stri-
dent; 
(2) such advertisements shall not be presented 
at modulation levels substantially higher than the 
program material that such advertisements accom-
pany; and 
(3) the average maximum loudness of such ad-
vertisements shall not be substantially higher than 
the average maximum loudness of the program ma-
terial that such advertisements accompany. 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:14 Dec 15, 2009
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6401
E:\BILLS\H1084.RH
H1084
tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
(b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 
terms ‘‘video programming’’ and ‘‘multichannel video pro-
gramming distributor’’ have the meanings given such 
terms in section 602 of Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 522). 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Commercial Advertise-
ment 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 Communica-
tions 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 Sys-
tems Committee, only insofar as such recommended practice 
concerns the transmission of commercial advertisements by 
a television broadcast station, cable operator, or other mul-
tichannel video programming distributor. 
(b) IMPLEMENTATION.— 
(1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Federal Communica-
tions Commission shall prescribe that the regulation 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:14 Dec 15, 2009
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1084.RH
H1084
tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
adopted pursuant to subsection (a) shall become effec-
tive 1 year after the date of its adoption. 
(2) WAIVER.—For any television broadcast sta-
tion, cable operator, or other multichannel video pro-
gramming distributor that demonstrates that obtain-
ing the equipment to comply with the regulation 
adopted pursuant to subsection (a) would result in fi-
nancial hardship, the Federal Communications Com-
mission 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 ‘‘multi-
channel video programming distributor’’ have the 
meanings given such terms in section 602 of Commu-
nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522). 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:14 Dec 15, 2009
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1084.RH
H1084
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 Commis-
sion to prescribe a standard to preclude commer-
cials from being broadcast at louder volumes 
than the program material they accompany. 
DECEMBER 14, 2009 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:14 Dec 15, 2009
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6651
Sfmt 6651
E:\BILLS\H1084.RH
H1084
tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS