NEW YORK --
TV viewing could soon sound a little calmer. The CALM Act, which limits the volume of TV commercials, goes into effect on Thursday.
The Federal Communications Commission has been directed by Congress to implement the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act.
The FCC last year said they had received almost 6,000 complaints about loud commercials since 2008, so they decided to act.
The law requires that broadcast, cable, satellite and other video providers ensure that ads are broadcast at the same volume as the programming around them. It's meant to protect viewers from excessively loud commercials.
The Federal Communications Commission adopted the rules a year ago, but gave the industry a one-year grace period to adopt them. The FCC is allowing stations to apply for a waiver on implementing the rule if they need more time to comply.
Suspected violations can be reported by the public to the FCC on its website.
The authors of the CALM Act are Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
(Information from CNN and the Associated Press was used in this report.)
