California extends loud ad rules to streaming services

Streaming commercials in California will soon have to stay at the same volume as the shows and movies they interrupt. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 576 on October 6, 2025, and the law takes effect on July 1, 2026, bringing a familiar living-room annoyance under state regulation.

The measure extends the federal Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation, or CALM, Act into the streaming era. Congress passed that law in 2010, and it already covered broadcast television stations and cable operators. California’s version applies the same basic standard to streaming services, prohibiting commercials from being louder than the programming viewers are watching.

Sen. Thomas Umberg, a Democrat from Santa Ana, authored the bill. California legislative materials described SB 576 as closing a loophole that had left streaming services outside CALM Act compliance, even as more households shifted away from traditional television bundles. The bill had bipartisan support as it moved through the California Legislature.

Newsom cast the issue as one Californians had been complaining about inside their own homes, where a single ad break can drown out everything else in the room. The practical aim of SB 576 is simple: prevent the volume spike that turns a quiet viewing session into a jolt when a commercial starts.

The push for the bill also had a personal trigger. Richael Keller, a staffer for Umberg, was driven to action after a loud streaming ad woke her sleeping baby. That detail gave the legislation a domestic edge, even as opponents raised technical concerns about how it would work in practice.

During the legislative process, critics argued that streaming platforms do not control ad insertion and volume in the same way traditional broadcasters do, making enforcement harder than under the cable-and-broadcast system Congress regulated in 2010. Supporters said the distinction should not matter to viewers who only want commercials to stop blasting above the programs they chose.

The Federal Communications Commission has long fielded complaints about loud ads, and California is now trying to carry that consumer protection into streaming, where ad-supported video is rapidly replacing older delivery systems. Once SB 576 takes effect next summer, the state will be testing whether the old rules of television can be made to fit the new mechanics of streaming.