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Nine TV Channels Broadcast Advertising with the Sound Level Surpassing the Allowed Limit

24 June 2021
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The Broadcasting Council (BC) specialists have stated in a special monitoring report that nine TV channels breach the requirements regarding the sound level allowed within broadcasted programs. At the meeting held on June 24, the BC members verbally warned the channels in question and offered them a tem for eliminating the breach until September 1, 2021, to comply with the legal requirements.

During the meeting, the Council members examined the results of monitoring such channels as Moldova 1, Primul in Moldova, Prime, TV8, TVR Moldova, NTV Moldova, Publika TV, Agro TV Moldova, and Jurnal TV in terms of compliance with the sound level in broadcast programs. “As a result of the quantitative analysis, it was stated that, from May 28 to June 3, all the [monitored – editor’s note.] TV channels deviated from the sound level between the programs and commercial information they broadcast,” Vitalie Bujnita, Head of the BC Control and Digitization Department, declared.

He specified that he had communicated with the person in charge of some of the channels in question, including those from Moldova 1 public channel, who allegedly had told him that they had not been aware of the breaches, believing that the sound had been uniformly regulated automatically. The technician promised that the specialists of the public TV channel would adjust the sound level manually, using the software, to make it less annoying for the audience.

While the subject was being examined, Dragos Vicol, the former head of the BC, suggested warning the TV channels verbally instead of sanctioning them, because that issue was considered for the first time, and Lidia Viziru, his colleague, pleaded for offering them a term for eliminating the deficiencies so that media service providers could adjust their technical possibilities properly.

Both suggestions were supported, and media service providers were given a deadline until September 1 to comply with the provisions of the broadcasting legislation and act in a legal manner.

According to the Methodology for Monitoring the Sound Level in Broadcasting Program Services, TV channels are required to adjust the sound level in program services to a value of -23 LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale), a unit of sound measurement serving as the target level. The permitted deviation from the target level should generally not exceed ± 0.5 LU, or ± 1 LU for live program services.

The audio signal is analyzed in two stages. Initially, the program service is separated (a program/show, advertising, teleshopping, electoral advertising, and self-promotion advertising are extracted, and separate blocks are created for each broadcast element), and subsequently, loudness of each separate element is measured.