NATIONAL
December 13, 2012
WASHINGTON -- No need to dive for the mute button today: A new federal law aimed at lowering the volume of TV commercials goes into effect. "This is clearly not the biggest thing happening in Washington. But it is one less nuisance," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a sponsor of the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation, or CALM, Act, said at a Capitol Hill gathering to celebrate the law's implementation. Under the rule, commercials should have the same average volume as the programs they accompany.
ENTERTAINMENT
December 13, 2012 | By Meg James
TV viewers finally should get some relief from a major annoyance: excessively loud commercials. On Thursday, the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, which limits the volume of TV commercials, goes into effect. The federal law, known as CALM, requires broadcasters to ensure that TV commercials maintain the same volume as the entertainment programming in which the ads are contained. Prompted by an outcry from irritated consumers, Congress more than a year ago passed the law, sponsored by Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Menlo Park)
BUSINESS
September 11, 2012 | David Lazarus
A new federal law intended to keep TV commercials from bursting your eardrums won't take effect until Dec. 13. But the cable industry already is trying to water it down. The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, or CALM Act, requires that TV commercials be no louder than the programs they accompany. It's up to the Federal Communications Commission to set and enforce the new rules. The broadcasting industry has long maintained that it doesn't really jack up the volume when ads come on, arguing that it only seems as if the decibel level has soared because certain attention-getting sounds are being used.
BUSINESS
December 13, 2011 | By Joe Flint, Los Angeles Times
Excessively loud television commercials should be a thing of the past, thanks to the Federal Communications Commission. Responding to years of complaints that the volume on commercials was much louder than that of the programming that the ads accompany, the FCC on Tuesday passed the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act to make sure that the sound level is the same for commercials and news and entertainment programming. "Most of us have … experienced this ourselves: You're watching your favorite television program, or the news, and all of a sudden, a commercial comes on, and it sounds like someone turned up the volume — but no one did. Today, the FCC is quieting a persistent problem of the television age: loud commercials," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement.
NEWS
August 2, 2011 | By Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times/For the Booster Shots blog
Have food and beverage commercials aimed at kids gotten better since companies like Kellogg's, Nestle, Coca-Colo Co. and McDonald's Corp. pledged to cut back on ads featuring unhealthy fare? It depends on how you define “better,” a new study finds. Food and drink advertising on TV is big business, adding up to about $745 million each year, according to the study published Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. More than half of those dollars are spent trying to reach kids under the age of 12. Those ads work: Other studies have shown that as kids are exposed to a greater number of enticing commercials for sugary drinks, salty snacks and meals cooked in deep fryers, the heavier they get. So a group of researchers from the University of Illinois in Chicago hunkered down with TV ratings data from Nielsen Media Research.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
February 23, 2011 | By Andrea Chang and W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times
Corporate turnaround expert Sanford C. Sigoloff, credited with leading ailing companies such as Wickes Cos. out of bankruptcy but criticized by many as a tough-as-nails boss, has died. He was 80. Sigoloff died of complications from pneumonia Saturday with his family by his side at his Brentwood home. He also had Alzheimer's disease. Sigoloff, whose stern voice and lean figure were familiar to millions of Southern Californians from his "We got the message, Mr. Sigoloff" television commercials for Wickes' now-defunct Builders Emporium chain, was an ace at salvaging debt-laden companies.