When do commercials get quieter

If the Commission finds violations through its investigations, it should bring enforcement actions. Increased enforcement could stymie the surge in complaints. However, as streaming television rises and cords are cut, more and more Americans are getting their television from services that are not covered by the CALM act, which applies to MVPDs, or multichannel video programming distributors, which is the official legal name for cable providers.

When Insider asked that question of experts in government, legislature, and the industry, the response was similar to asking "Why not legalize civil unions for leprechauns" or "When will the Federal Aviation Administration crack down on Pogo sticks," in that it reveals a fundamental misunderstanding about what the FCC is.

The streaming landscape is vastly different from television. It may look like television, but it's legally something else entirely, and while the offerings of a virtual over-the-top service may look nearly identical to the offerings of a traditional cable television service, legally it's completely different, and not under the regulation of the FCC. The FCC simply lacks jurisdiction over streaming services. One side effect of this lack of jurisdiction is that for loud commercials, the FCC can't do a thing.

And the agency can't address any of the other anxieties of modern streaming, including local blackouts, delivery issues, billing, usage caps, content exclusivity, bans, or any of the other policies enacted by fiat by the largest media companies on the planet. Toward the end of the Obama administration, niche virtual streaming services sought classification as MVPDs.

But the move to expand the definition was opposed both by legacy MVPDs, as well as larger streaming companies, such as Amazon , which did not want the FCC encroaching on their business, with the main fear being that any regulation would open the door to further regulation. The move never went through.

Commissioner Ajit Pai, who opposed the move , shortly after became the FCC chair, functionally killing the proposal. Last year there was some movement from network affiliates to reconsider it , but for the foreseeable future the virtual streaming services are unregulatable, and part of that means they can run commercials however loud they please. While there is nothing to stop the FCC from adapting a definition of multi-channel video provider that would include the virtual providers, or even streaming services, the result would likely be a massive lawsuit that they would probably lose very badly.

In order for the FCC to have any authority over streamers, Sohn said, Congress would have to pass a law. Streaming services don't want to be regulated. However, the difficulties that Congress faces in regulating streaming television doesn't mean erratic commercial volumes on streaming is going to be a problem forever.

When Congress passed the CALM Act, they passed a law that essentially took an existing audio industry standard and instructed the FCC to take the necessary steps to enforce that standard. Right this moment, the Audio Engineering Society is designing a new audio standard for streaming television.

If you've never heard of them, you've definitely heard them. This is the group of audio engineers who design the standards for much of how America's media diet sounds.

The reason you change the channel and one isn't materially louder than another, or if you've gone to a concert and not seen drastically different sounds between sets — all of that is genuine scientific work agreed upon by pros and at times set as standards.

The process by which an idea becomes a standard is not entirely like the serpentine process by which a bill becomes law. Think of it as a version of the Schoolhouse Rock song "I'm Just A Bill," but instead of a bill it's an intricate technical document, instead of congressional committees it's a technical committee of audio experts, and in lieu of congressional votes it's approval by the broader audio committee.

Right now, the Audio Engineering Society's technical committee is working on a new technical document that would address loudness on streaming services. And if it works, the issues of variable volumes on digital television could be solved without Congress at all. The gist is that programming material will come with loudness controls within metadata, indicating precisely how loud programming should be.

They're now getting comments from the 90 members of the committee. The bigger players have good reason to play ball, namely because a unified consumer sound experience is good for the field as a whole. A user touching the volume knob is bad. Despite the many issues, Congress has been mulling an update to the Cable Act, which was the last major overhaul of the cable system.

Needless to say, in the intervening years the landscape of television has changed somewhat, and to that end Republican Rep. That level, however, represents a peak sound meant to accommodate for when something like a gunshot or explosion goes off during a show. Advertising content creators routinely crank the sound of their ads to just shy of that peak level, so the entire commercial is playing at the equivalent of a second bomb blast. Joel Kelsey, legislative director for the media advocacy group Free Press, previously testified in Congress about the need for volume regulation on commercials.

Since nearly the beginning of television itself, loud commercials "have consistently been one of the issues consumers are most energized to write the FCC about. The bill passed unanimously in the Senate. Many televisions and home theater systems have features to control loudness, such as automatic gain control, audio compression, or audio limiters, that can be turned on to provide a more consistent volume level across programs and commercials.

Some commercials with louder and quieter moments may still seem "too loud" to some viewers, but are still in compliance because average volume is the rule. The FCC does not monitor programming for loud commercials.

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