So you are watching your favorite program, and it goes to a commercial break. Why, oh my god, why does the volume need to be cranked up so damn high? Do the TV stations make more money from the advertisers by using this tactic?

Now don’t get me wrong, advertising ‘pays’ for your free stuff. My websites provide free content, and are funded by advertisements. I have always made it my goal to make sure the advertising is not too intrusive - I block all pop-ups, ads with audio of any sort, etc. I feel that if the advertising is too intrusive, you will drive away your users. Enter TIVO. I’ve heard that TIVO could be the death of free TV programming because you can just skip past the commercials. If stations are losing revenue because of TIVO - then they deserve it. Death of free TV - no. TV stations are using off-set timing of programming to make it harder to record programs. And the battle will rage on.

My plea to the FCC is to regulate this. They are so overly hypersensitive in other areas, why can’t they put a little effort to regulate this? The FCC does address the issue on their website, stating that they DO NOT regulate commercial volume. To their credit, they do provide a ‘tip’ to help those who are irritated - and I quote:

“The “Mute” button on TV remote controls is also useful to “blank” excessively loud audio.”

Mute ButtonNo shit. I have provided a picture of what this “mute button” thingy looks like on the right. (NOTE: may differ slightly on different remote control devices).

Might I provide the FCC a couple more useful tips that they could add to their list:
1. You can put your index fingers in your ears (Warning: inserting your fingers too far may result in permanent hearing loss. Before trying this please consult your physician.)
2. Leave the room when commercials come on.

Really? I mean REALLY?
Well it seems that the FCC isn’t going to police these ‘out of control’ loud commercials, which is fine, but apparently the TV stations can’t police themselves either.  So as a consumer, I guess we are left to take measures into our own hands.  In my case, I now record all of my programs and fast forward past all of the commercials.