[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2847 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
S.2847
One Hundred Eleventh Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the fifth day of January, two thousand and ten
An Act
To regulate the volume of audio on commercials.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Commercial Advertisement Loudness
Mitigation Act'' or the ``CALM Act''.
SEC. 2. RULEMAKING ON LOUD COMMERCIALS REQUIRED.
(a) Rulemaking Required.--Within 1 year after the date of enactment
of this Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall prescribe
pursuant to the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) a
regulation that is limited to incorporating by reference and making
mandatory (subject to any waivers the Commission may grant) the
``Recommended Practice: Techniques for Establishing and Maintaining
Audio Loudness for Digital Television'' (A/85), and any successor
thereto, approved by the Advanced Television Systems Committee, only
insofar as such recommended practice concerns the transmission of
commercial advertisements by a television broadcast station, cable
operator, or other multichannel video programming distributor.
(b) Implementation.--
(1) Effective date.--The Federal Communications Commission
shall prescribe that the regulation adopted pursuant to subsection
(a) shall become effective 1 year after the date of its adoption.
(2) Waiver.--For any television broadcast station, cable
operator, or other multichannel video programming distributor that
demonstrates that obtaining the equipment to comply with the
regulation adopted pursuant to subsection (a) would result in
financial hardship, the Federal Communications Commission 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.
(3) Waiver authority.--Nothing in this section affects the
Commission's authority under section 1.3 of its rules (47 C.F.R.
1.3) to waive any rule required by this Act, or the application of
any such rule, for good cause shown to a television broadcast
station, cable operator, or other multichannel video programming
distributor, or to a class of such stations, operators, or
distributors.
(c) Compliance.--Any broadcast television operator, cable operator,
or other multichannel video programming distributor that installs,
utilizes, and maintains in a commercially reasonable manner the
equipment and associated software in compliance with the regulations
issued by the Federal Communications Commission in accordance with
subsection (a) shall be deemed to be in compliance with such
regulations.
(d) 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 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522).
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.