Lawmakers don’t like loud ads

The bill wasn’t a tough sell for its author, Democratic Sen. Tom Umberg of Santa Ana. It passed the Legislature with none of California’s 120 legislators voting against it. 

Umberg told CalMatters this summer that he came up with the idea for the bill after his legislative director, Zach Keller, told him about how a loud ad woke up his infant daughter, Samantha Rose, while the adults were trying to relax and watch a show. 

“This bill was inspired by baby Samantha and every exhausted parent who’s finally gotten a baby to sleep, only to have a blaring streaming ad undo all that hard work,” Umberg said in a statement accompanying Newsom’s. “SB 576 brings some much-needed peace and quiet to California households by making sure streaming ads aren’t louder than the shows we actually want to watch.”

The measure faced opposition from California’s influential entertainment industry, including the Motion Picture Association of America, which has donated at least $204,000 to lawmakers since 2015, according to the CalMatters Digital Democracy database. 

The opponents argued that the measure would be difficult to implement since streaming services don’t have the same control over ad volumes as traditional broadcasters.

Read more here: CalMatters