Starting Thursday, it's illegal for broadcasters and pay TV providers to air excessively loud commercials. The FCC says all ads must maintain the same average volume as the programs they accompany. Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, helped drive the effort.
"We all know what this is, we've all endured it. We've all heard the ads. So today, is the beginning of a new era of quieter TV," said Eshoo.
Her legislation called the "Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation", or CALM for short, mandated the change back in 2010.
