California has enacted legislation prohibiting streaming services from playing advertisements louder than the accompanying video content, effective July 1. This law aligns streaming regulations with existing federal CALM Act standards for traditional broadcast and cable TV, addressing long-standing consumer complaints about audio disparity.
Background
The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act has long regulated TV ad volumes, but streaming platforms operated in a regulatory gray area until now. Industry groups like the Motion Picture Association opposed the bill, citing technical challenges with server-side ad insertion.
- Source
- Ars Technica
- Published
- Jun 27, 2026 at 05:12 AM
- Score
- 7.0 / 10