Bill would quiet down streaming commercials

Richael Keller has always been sensitive to loud commercials, but when thundering streaming-service ads disturbed her sleeping newborn, her reaction was heated enough to blaze a path to the California state Capitol.

- BY KAREN GARCIA

SEN. Tom Umberg wrote the volume bill.

Keller's husband is Zach Keller, legislative director for Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana). Last year, when the pair became new - and newly exhausted - parents, their reprieve was watching a TV show on a streaming service while their daughter napped. Even though the TV and the baby were in separate rooms, a random commercial would "blare so loudly that it would startle [the baby] and wake her up," Keller told The Times.

Keller said her husband was long aware of the issue, but it had now degraded the quality of their lives to the point that he was spurred to act.

Zach Keller's boss, Umberg, authored Senate Bill 576 to lower the volume on commercial advertisements, which passed the Legislature and now awaits the governor's signature.

If approved, the legislation would prohibit streaming services including Hulu, Netflix and Prime Video from playing commercials louder than the shows and films they offer on their platforms.

For the bill to become law, Newsom has until Oct. 12 to sign it.

How can platforms control advertisement volume? In short, they can't. At least not directly.

But regulators can notice when there is a pattern of consumer complaints and then investigate further for possible enforcement.