Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 124.djvu/3320

This page needs to be proofread.

124 STAT. 3294 PUBLIC LAW 111–311—DEC. 15, 2010 Public Law 111–311 111th Congress 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 Loud- ness 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 Tele- vision’’ (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 multi- channel video programming distributor. (b) IMPLEMENTATION.— (1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Federal Communications Commission shall prescribe that the regulation adopted pursu- ant 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, opera- tors, or distributors. (c) COMPLIANCE.—Any broadcast television operator, cable oper- ator, or other multichannel video programming distributor that installs, utilizes, and maintains in a commercially reasonable Deadline. 47 USC 621. 47 USC 609 note. Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act. Dec. 15, 2010 [S. 2847]