Las Vegas – Solutions for complying with a government edict that
broadcasters stabilize audio levels between TV programming and commercials will
take center stage in the booth of the
Advanced
Television Systems Committee (ATSC)
during the National Association of
Broadcasters Convention, held here April 11-14.
Called the CALM Place, the ATSC TechZone centerpiece was designed
to show attendees how broadcasters can best to comply with new federal
regulations addressing the issue.
The Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act, which
was passed by Congress last December, was a legislative response to consumer
complaints about the relative loudness of TV commercials.
It requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt
the relevant portions of the ATSC A/85 Recommended Practice developed by ATSC
to deal with the issue.
The TV broadcasting industry is prepared to fully meet the requirements
of the new law, which is expected to be incorporated into new FCC regulations
later this year.
“Many local broadcasters have already started to implement the
ATSC’s A/85 Recommended Practice. There are already tools available for
broadcasters to use. In some cases, it’s as easy as a software upgrade,” Mark Richer,
ATSC executive director said. “The government, broadcasters, trade associations
like NAB, CEA and NCTA, and technology companies all agree: A/85 is the way to
deal with the commercial loudness issue — so there’s ‘homeland harmony.’ “
The A/85 ATSC Recommended Practice provides guidelines and
technical parameters for the transmission of commercial advertisements by a
television broadcast station, cable operator, or other multi-channel video
programming distributor as required by the CALM Act.
First approved in late 2009, the Recommended Practice document
focuses on audio measurement, production and post-production monitoring
techniques and methods to effectively control loudness for content delivery or
exchange. Additionally, the ATSC’s A/85 Recommended Practice covers methods to
effectively control program-to-interstitial loudness and it discusses metadata
systems and use and describes modern dynamic range control.
The CALM Place will feature the following:
·
NBC Universal and FOX will demonstrate audio
mixing, loudness monitoring and transmission/splicing systems;
·
DaySequerra/DTS will show the new NLC5.1ST loudness
control, iLM8 intelligent loudness meter and M2DTV mobile media loudness processor;
·
IneoQuest will show the Expedus DVA;
·
Linear Acoustics will demonstrate multiband
audio processing, Aero.qr, Aero.air (S.1), LAMDA –II, and HDX/A5A/Lilliput;
and
·
Dolby will showcase its DP600 program optimizer,
which provides a range of tools for helping operators comply with the CALM act
regulations.
Other CALM Place sponsors include ABC, NAB, NCTA and Univision.
