California ordered its powerful entertainment industry to turn down the volume on Monday, with a new law that requires streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and YouTube to ensure that audio levels do not suddenly skyrocket during commercial breaks.
The legislation, signed into state law by the governor, Gavin Newsom, forces the powerful streaming platforms to comply with existing regulations that have barred television broadcasters from bombarding the eardrums of viewers with overly loud commercials since 2010.
Since then, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has required broadcast stations and cable channels to ensure that commercials have the same average volume as the programs they interrupt, but the increasingly powerful streamers have been exempt, until now.
“We heard Californians loud and clear,” Newsom said in a statement, “and what’s clear is that they don’t want commercials at a volume any louder than the level at which they were previously enjoying a program.”
California Senate Bill 576 was introduced by Tom Umberg, a California state senator, whose legislative aide complained to him last year that sudden eruptions of noise during ad breaks were disturbing the sleep of his newborn, Samantha.
“This bill was inspired by baby Samantha and every exhausted parent who’s finally gotten a baby to sleep, only to have a blaring streaming ad undo all that hard work,” Umberg said after Newsom signed his bill into law. “SB 576 brings some much-needed peace and quiet to California households by making sure streaming ads aren’t louder than the shows we actually want to watch.”
Since so many of the streaming platforms are based in California, the new state bill could set a national standard and lower volumes across the country.
