Loudness of TV Commercials

I believe it was Magnavox that used to sell a TV that lowered the volume of commercials. Has anyone other than me ever wondered why you have to pay for cable TV but still have to watch commercials? After all, commercials are supposed to pay for the use of the broadcast.

Rwwear

Yep....not fair at all, it's not like cable is cheap? We pay a high cable bill to watch a program full of commercials.

Dave

Because the broadcasters know you are going to get up and leave the room when the commercials are on. Move your beer refrigerator further from the tv.

The rule, as I remember it, is that a commercial can be no louder than the loudest MOMENT of the sponsored broadcast. This means, if you are watching an NBA basketball game and somebody hits a game winning shot, the commercials that come afterward can be played IN THEIR ENTIRETY at the volume level of the moment when the crowd went wild.

Reason number 13,245 why I don't watch TV...

Cheers.

Maybe to explain what Ghostrider said, the commercials are broadcast not at the volume of regular dialogue level for programming but at the max volume(explosions,etc). I used to set my Fosgate Model 5's dialogue setting at high during regular shows then hit the button again when commercials came on. This attenuated the volume if the remote was within reach. My family got pretty good at it. Dan