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Sacramento, California – A bill advancing through the California Legislature could soon require streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and others to lower the volume on their advertisements, addressing a common complaint from viewers jolted by blaring commercials interrupting their programming.
Senate Bill 576, introduced by Democratic Sen. Tom Umberg of Santa Ana, would extend federal standards already applied to broadcast and cable television to the world of digital streaming. Under the proposal, streaming platforms would be prohibited from airing advertisements that are significantly louder than the content they accompany. The measure passed the state Senate with broad bipartisan support and is now headed to the Assembly floor.
The bill is modeled after the federal Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act, which was signed into law in 2010. That law authorized the Federal Communications Commission to ensure television commercials do not exceed the average volume of the programs they follow. However, the federal rules never addressed streaming services, which were still emerging at the time. Recent attempts to update the law in Congress have stalled, leaving states like California to consider taking action on their own.
Legal experts suggest the state has a solid foundation for doing so. Court decisions have affirmed California’s authority to enact consumer protection laws that affect digital content providers, as long as those laws are directed at services used by state residents. One case cited by legal analysts involved a successful lawsuit against CNN for failing to provide closed captioning on web videos, where a federal appeals court upheld the state’s jurisdiction.
While the bill enjoys strong public and legislative support, it faces pushback from California’s influential entertainment industry. Organizations such as the Motion Picture Association and the Streaming Innovation Alliance argue that the bill would be difficult to implement. According to industry representatives, streaming ads are paired with content in real-time, making it hard for platforms to control individual ad volume before delivery.
The entertainment industry also maintains that it has already taken significant steps to address loudness issues by developing internal guidelines and technical solutions that aim to equalize ad and content volume.
Despite industry objections, lawmakers appear poised to move forward, seeing the bill as a practical response to a widespread frustration experienced in homes across the state. The legislation’s origins underscore its personal resonance: it was inspired by a staff member’s experience when a loud ad woke his sleeping infant daughter while the family streamed a show at home.
As the bill heads to the Assembly for final consideration, California could become the first state to regulate streaming ad volume, offering relief to viewers — and perhaps a few tired parents — weary of jarring commercial interruptions.
