No more loud commercials: Governor Newsom signs SB 576

What you need to know: Governor Newsom today signed legislation ensuring the volume of commercials no longer rises to a level louder than the original programming.

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today signed SB 576 by Senator Thomas Umberg (D-Santa Ana) to turn down the volume of commercials that rise to a level louder than the primary video content being watched. Building on Congress’ Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act passed in 2010 – which applied to broadcast television stations and cable operators – the law Governor Newsom signed today will also apply to streaming services, which have skyrocketed in popularity over the past decade.

“We heard Californians loud and clear, and what’s clear is that they don’t want commercials at a volume any louder than the level at which they were previously enjoying a program. By signing SB 576, California is dialing down this inconvenience across streaming platforms, which had previously not been subject to commercial volume regulations passed by Congress in 2010.”

Governor Gavin Newsom

“This bill was inspired by baby Samantha and every exhausted parent who’s finally gotten a baby to sleep, only to have a blaring streaming ad undo all that hard work,” said Senator Thomas Umberg. “SB 576 brings some much-needed peace and quiet to California households by making sure streaming ads aren’t louder than the shows we actually want to watch.”

For full text of the bill, visit: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.