The FCC’s rules on loud television commercials took effect on December 13, 2012, one year after the FCC adopted an Order implementing the rules in response to the 2010 Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (the “CALM Act”).  Broadcast stations and MVPDs must ensure that all commercials are transmitted to consumers at the appropriate loudness level.  The rules cover digital advertisements locally inserted by MVPDs and those that come embedded from a content provider.

For MVPDs that locally insert commercials, the FCC will assume compliance if the MVPD:

• Has installed the required equipment (under the A/85 Recommended Practice, a standard adopted by the ATSC) ;
• Uses the equipment in connection with the insertions; and
• Keeps the equipment in good working order (with records showing the equipment’s use and that the equipment has undergone periodic maintenance and testing).

For embedded commercials, MVPDs can rely on a “safe harbor” to prove compliance:

• For certified programming, the MVPD may rely on a programmer’s certification if the MVPD has no reason to believe the certification is false.
• For non-certified programming, MVPDs with over 10 million subscribers must annually spot check 100% of non-certified programming, and MVPDs with between 400,000 and 10 million subscribers must annually spot check 50% of non-certified programming.  MVPDs with less than 400,000 subscribers are exempt from these spot check obligations.

If you have any questions about the CALM Act rules, please contact Scott Friedman at (312) 372-3930 or at sfriedman@cm-chi.com.