Loud sound of televisions during the advertising ends today – publico

 
         

                 

                         
                     

                 

 
 

The gesture of many Portuguese to lay the hand on the TV remote control to lower the sound of the television when they reach commercial breaks will end. From Wednesday, comes into force a new law prohibiting the increase in volume during the issue of advertising by television. A practice that is common to all operators and which also has a special focus on programming for children.

Changes to the Television Law and the Audiovisual Services on Demand (LTSAP) are based a directive of the Regulatory Authority for the Media (ERC), in February this year, having received “many complaints via phone,” eight of which were admitted by formal way in the body, as revealed Publico Celeste Grácio, unit coordinator supervision of the regulator.

the complaints focused on whether the programs under national jurisdiction services, either on that issue from other countries which appear in menus of national distribution operators. “In terms of complaints, the prevalence lies in the general programs or services, children’s channels, including those outside of national jurisdiction,” said the ERC.

In the Portuguese Association for the Defence of consumer (Deco) also reached “some complaints” that have been forwarded to the regulator of the sector.

in its directive, the ERC, based on a study commissioned a consultancy firm in acoustic engineering and control noise, took into account that “the inconsistency of sound levels is revealed as one of the most frequent causes of discomfort mentioned by television viewers.”

the entity has determined that the level of “hearing the loudness of commercial breaks “should be set at -23 LUFS. The LUFS ( loudness unit full scale ) are noise measurement units, in which an LU is equivalent to a decibel. In programs where it is not possible to precise control of auditory intensity of feeling level, as written in direct, deviations from this value should not exceed more or less a LU – ie, the sound changes between advertising programs and intervals shall never exceed a decibel.

the ERC also says software for measuring the auditory sensation level values ​​and their effective control are “widely available on the market” and It recommends that producers, operators and TV distributors “make use of these tools to meet the legal requirements.” Operators are also required to ensure the standardization of emissions between services under Portuguese jurisdiction and those from other EU countries or outside Europe.

Following the issued directive, the regulatory authority will starting on Wednesday “monitoring, certified and endorsed scientifically, the rules, based on a representative sample of the programs under national jurisdiction services which bear most of the complaints and timely collection of other services distributed in national distribution operators” .

violation of the new legislation will result in heavy fines to television operators. The default is equivalent to an offense considered serious, with the fines vary between 20,000 and 150,000 euros.

Among the issuance of the directive of the ERC and the entry into force of the new legislative changes were heard by the regulator generalist television operators and advertising agencies. “Despite all recognize the need to harmonize the sound volume levels requested, the date, the implementation of the Directive in time with a period of adjustment to the rules, expressing interest in collaborating with the ERC.”

the ERC expects the cooperation and participation of all industry stakeholders “enable the development of standardization will contribute to the listening comfort for the viewer”; its cross-adoption “will contribute to a TV consumer experience, even between different program services, without the uncomfortable feeling of significant changes in sound volume.”