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Home Front: Politix
Your Congress at Work
2010-12-05
[MSNBC] The House on Thursday passed a bill that would prevent advertisers from abruptly raising the volume to catch the attention of viewers wandering off when regular programming is interrupted.

"Every American has likely experienced the frustration of abrasively loud television commercials," the Senate sponsor of the bill, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said when the Senate approved it in September. "While this may be an effective way for ads to grab attention, it also adds unnecessary stress to the daily lives of many Americans."
Posted by:Pappy

#18  Never happen Barb. Congress and our "leadership" are too interested in authorizing bum buggering for the military, feeding the "poor", and interfering globally at every opportunity.
Posted by: Besoeker   2010-12-05 19:59  

#17  "Regulating the content of what goes out over the public airwaves is definitely within the powers of Congress."

That covers ABC, NBS, CBS, public TV, and Fox (I think they're broadcast) but not Fox News, and any other channels that are broadcast over the airwaves.

Nothing gives them the right to regulate cable/satelite, which is not broadcast, but delivered to paying customers by whatever means is used.

We'd all be better off it ReCongress would just butt out of our lives; do the mininum they are authorized/required to do by the actual Constitution (not the liberal one that lives in their heads), get their grubby hands out of our pockets, tell the whiners around the country to shut up and man- (or woman-) up and LEAVE US THE HELL ALONE.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2010-12-05 19:55  

#16  Human infants are well designed to produce loud, piercing audio signals with very low power inputs.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2010-12-05 18:19  

#15  modern TV sets the output volume isn't automatically regulated Well, it is, but the creators of the offending material learned to get around the built-in regulation by fiddling with the audio spectrum of their material so that it SOUNDS louder than it is. Certain audio pitches (and probably rhythms) seem much louder & more piercing than simpleminded measurements would indicate. You can reproduce a similar effect by using sound editors like Audacity on a sound clip. People can do similar things with their voice, like some of my former girlfriends.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2010-12-05 18:18  

#14  And all this time I thought it was my bloody telly!
Posted by: Besoeker   2010-12-05 18:10  

#13  I'm surprised that with modern TV sets the output volume isn't automatically regulated, regardless of the volume on the input signal. This would be trivial to do.
Posted by: Aussie Mike   2010-12-05 17:56  

#12  This is much ado about nothing. Regulating the content of what goes out over the public airwaves is definitely within the powers of Congress. Big F Deal.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2010-12-05 17:49  

#11  Television? Oh, how quaint.
Posted by: rammer   2010-12-05 14:05  

#10  Record it, play it back later, fast forward through the commercials.
Posted by: Abu Uluque (new computer)   2010-12-05 11:10  

#9  Billy Mays already did much to prevent this scourge on humanity by dying
Posted by: Frank G   2010-12-05 10:13  

#8  Some departing congressman or congresswoman should slip in the bill a requirement to 'mute' the volume on CSPAN
Posted by: airandee   2010-12-05 09:15  

#7  Channels that support 'loud' attention commercials invite my channel surfing to other venues. That doesn't require an 'act of Congress'.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2010-12-05 09:12  

#6  It helps establish precedent.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2010-12-05 09:05  

#5  How about A mute button for congress?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2010-12-05 08:55  

#4  The commercials are annoying but there is the mute button or the "off" control. Just another one of too many areas where Congress meddles.
Posted by: JohnQC   2010-12-05 08:40  

#3  Picture perfect.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike   2010-12-05 05:48  

#2  Meanwhile, Congress STILL hasn't adopted a budget -one of the primary responsibilities of Congress according to the Constitution.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia   2010-12-05 02:35  

#1  For some reason, I don't think Congress should be meddling here. It's as if they do it just to validate the fact that they can, even if they don't really have the power to.
Posted by: gorb   2010-12-05 01:44  

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