In a letter from American Cable Association (ACA) lawyers to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the ACA explained that it will be challenging to implement the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM) because the technical standard for establishing and maintaining audio loudness for digital TV – ATSC A/85 – was written as a voluntary engineering standard and not a legal document. Also, ATSC A/85 is designed to cover the entire ecosystem of entities involved with loudness management in video including producers of programming and advertisements, consumer electronics manufacturers as well as broadcasters and MVPDs.

The letter stated, "Each of these participants has a crucial role in the ATSC A/85 ecosystem; yet, the CALM Act only seeks to incorporate the ATSC A/85 standards insofar as they apply to broadcasters and MVPDs. The Commission thus must wrestle with fathoming the meaning of directives in ATSC A/85 that depend upon actions by participants other than broadcasters and MVPDs.

"For instance, there are approximately 7,500 cable systems, most of which distribute the same feeds of several hundred programming channels to consumers. The authors of ATSC A/85 understood that it was costly and duplicative to have each of these 7,500 systems install and utilize equipment to monitor and correct the loudness of commercial advertisements inserted in several hundred programming channels upstream. Instead, the standard establishes a much more efficient process whereby programmers are directed to insert the commercial advertisements correctly and the 7,500 cable systems are required to pass through the signal without alteration."

In addition, the ACA is concerned the FCC does not govern the standards-making body that created ATSC A/85 and has no control over successor standards. But the ACA submits that relevant standards need to evolve to meet changes in technology and the market.

The Daily

Subscribe
Wednesday–December 11

Cruz Addresses Foreign Cyber Threats After ‘Salt Typhoon’

After a U.S. official confirmed at least eight U.S. telecommunications providers were breached as part of a foreign hacking campaign, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) called for more focus on defending state-sponsored cyber threats.

Read the Full Issue
The Skinny is delivered on Tuesday and focuses on the cable profession. You'll stay in the know on the headlines, topics and special issues you value most. Sign Up

Calendar

Apr 16
Cablefax 100 Awards Nominations Open November 13th, 2024.
Full Calendar

Jobs

Seeking an INDUSTRY JOB or hiring for one?
VIEW JOBS

In conjunction with our sister brand, Cynopsis, we are offering hiring managers a deep pool of media-savvy, skilled candidates at a range of experience levels and sectors. The result will be an even more robust industry job board, to help both employers and job seekers.

Contact Carley Ashley, [email protected], for more information about posting a job on the website and our Jobs newsletter, sent twice weekly to 85,000 media professionals.