California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed SB 576, a bill introduced by Senator Thomas Umberg (D-Santa Ana), to address the loudness of commercials on streaming platforms.
The legislation expands upon the federal Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act passed by Congress in 2010, which regulates volume levels for broadcast television stations and cable operators. SB 576 now extends those regulations to include streaming services, which have seen widespread adoption over the past decade.
The new law aims to prevent commercials from playing at higher volumes than the primary content being viewed.
“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,” said Newsom.
“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.”
“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,” added 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 the full text of the bill, go here.
