While it's been talked about for ages, the Senate has now passed a bill that attempts to force TV commercials to be at a similar volume to the shows that they're paired with. As many people have complained over the years, it often feels that the commercials are set to a much higher volume to gain attention. Of course, in reality, this tends to annoy more than anything else. The so-called CALM Act (Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation -- we really need to stop cutesy naming of bills) gives the FCC the mandate to make sure commercials are at a reasonable volume. The House has passed a similar bill, and once the two are aligned, it's likely this will become law.

However, as John Abell points out at the Wired link above, this probably won't matter too much. Fewer and fewer people seem to actually watch TV commercials these days, and more TV viewing is shifting to the internet (where these rules won't apply). And, while I agree that louder commercials can be annoying, is this really the sort of thing that needs to involve the federal government?

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/201010 ... ials.shtml

First of all, loud ads definitely should go, but it seems more like a matter for Ofcom or something. And that's almost certainly overstating it

Secondly, it's rare that I watch a station with ads, but mostly I change channels when they appear. Or go for a p1ss/more Coke

I can't even stand the longer BBC 'bumpers' (or whatever they're called) on iPlayer, so how about you?

The people who came up with the fat git with a twirly moustache need to die. This is all I have to say about adverts.

By some weird coincidence, the GoCompare advert was on my television whilst I read your post.

I would welcome legislation like this as Europe, except I would want it to go further - adverts should have the same volume as programmes.

Adverts aren't actually at a louder volume than the programmes (or if they are it's actually negligible). It's the treatment of the audio in the ads that creates the increase in volume. They should stop compressing the audio for the ads, then there wouldn't be a problem.
The TV programmes go out at the correct volume, but because the dynamic range of the audio is greater, there's more 'space' between the depths and the peaks. Adverts don't have the luxury of having full dynamic range.

Mark

If there's a second batch available for your firing squad, can I nominate anyone and everyone connected with the Injury/Compensation Solicitor ads? Including the ambulance-chasing legal firms themselves?

If there's anything on TV worth watching and it happens to be on a commercial channel, we tend to tape it and watch it later so we can zip through the ads.

If you really feel that strongly about it you know what to do...

*sings*

Go complain!
Go complain!
If you think the ad's a pain then go complain!

By this (for those who don’t know), audio compression means making the quieter bits louder, but keeping the peak volumes the same. The result is a seemingly louder soundtrack. They have been doing it on CDs as well, some leading to worse audio performance.

If you hate ads get yourself Sky+.

When I want to watch live TV I press "pause" and go and do something else for how long I think the ads will be on during the whole program. Then I come back, press "play" and watch the program delayed. When the ad comes on I just fastforward through it. Or even better it is to record the whole thing and watch it later.

This works very well during football games, you save yourself lot of time. I even fast forward boring passages of games like substitutions and injury treatments.

I tend to flip channels - there's usually something else that's worth watching. Even if it's same episode of Top Gear that I've seen for the last fifteen times, it's still better than watching adverts.

Occasionally, whatever I've switched to can be more interesting than what I'm watching and hence not bother to flip back. Sometimes there's nothing else to flip to during an advert and I'll either surf on my iphone or do something else.

Similarly with all those silly antipiracy ads on DVDs - I'll go get a drink or something until the DVD is at the menu.

My in-laws mute the TV every time the adverts come on because they're so loud.

Tend to watch things recorded (still sticking with windows media center and a dual hauppage digitl card I've had for ages NB it pretty much works now on win 7, including red button).

Start watching a bit later, flip through the ads or put the kettle on. Makes F1 much more reasonable, can cut out the crap bits like the qualifying you saw the day before, and Eddie Jordan pontificating.

Most things I watch have been Sky plussed, so I just fast forward through the adverts. If I have nothing recorded I'll scan through Sky Anytime to see if there is anything on there - no adverts at all on that.

as do we
the mute button is very easy to press ...

Usually a combination of the following

1) press mute because the ads are so loud,
2) put kettle on.
3) go to toilet.
4) check TV guide for something better.
5) go and do something more interesting instead.