California Just Banned The Most Annoying Thing About Streaming

Every streaming subscriber who sits down to watch their favorite show or movie on an advertising tier does so with a dollop of dread — because they know at unexpected junctures during the runtime, ear-splittingly loud commercials will tear through their speakers. Pets will dash out of the room, slumbering children will be jarred awake, and the experience of watching a hopefully great series or film will be diminished.

Starting July 1, 2026, however, this practice will no longer be legal in the state of California.

As revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed State Bill 576, which will prohibit all streaming services (e.g. Disney+, Netflix, HBO Max, etc.) from airing commercials that play at a volume louder than the program subscribers are watching. These services will be asked to follow the FCC's Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (aka CALM), which forced networks and cable channels to keep commercial volumes at a level consistent with whatever was being broadcast. (/Film's Danielle Ryan previously explained this situation late last year.)

I can't imagine anyone taking issue with this no-brainer piece of legislation; why this practice has been allowed is easily one of the most asked questions I get as an entertainment journalist. The only bummer is that it isn't federal law (and good luck waiting on this current FCC doing anything in the consumer's interest). All the same, one industry organization is disappointed in California's actions.

The Motion Picture Association, which lobbies on behalf of the studios and streamers (and controls the movie ratings system), objected to SB576 because it maintained the companies it represents were already "voluntarily" seeking to lower the volume of commercials. According to analysis offered up by the California State Senate, "[The MPA notes] that many streaming services have undertaken reasonable efforts to adjust the loudness of advertisements that come from server-side ad insertion that may be inconsistent with the loudness of the programs." In truth, they've had over a decade to voluntarily play by the CALM rules, but they have refused every step of the way.

Upon signing the bill yesterday, Newsom said, "We heard Californians loud and clear, and what's clear is that they don't want commercials at a volume any louder than the level at which they were previously enjoying a program." It's a small thing, but this might just be the most popular thing he's done while in office. Now you can watch "The Pitt" without fear of blowing out your speakers.