New California Law Will Change the Way Viewers Stream TV

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new law on Monday that will change the way subscribers view streaming services.

Beginning July 1, 2026, streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu and Prime Video, will not be allowed to "transmit the audio of commercial advertisements louder than the video content the advertisements accompany."

"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," Newsom said. "By signing SB 576, California is dialing down this inconvenience across streaming platforms, which had previously not been subject to commercial volume regulations passed by Congress in 2010."

The 2010 Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act was similar in that it barred TV commercials from being broadcast louder than the TV program being viewed. However, it did not extend to streaming services.

"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,” said the bill's author Senator Tom Umberg, who penned the bill after a complaint from legislative director Zach Keller about the volume waking his newborn daughter Samantha. "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."