It has taken an act of Congress, but the volume of television commercials will finally be turned down. The FCC has been fielding complaints from TV viewers since the 1960s and now the government has taken action with a law that went into effect last week.

“Representative Anna Eshoo (D-California) introduced the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM), which passed both the House and the Senate — where the vote was unanimous — in 2010,” reports TIME. “President Obama signed it on December 15, 2010.”

The law requires that the commercials be no louder than the broadcasts that accompany them. It has taken two years to implement, since stations and cable operators had to upgrade their equipment.

“Surprisingly, advertisers didn’t put up much of a fight over the legislation, likely realizing how annoying their ads had become to basically everybody who owns a television,” notes the article. “It’s not clear whether turning the sound down on ads will actually hurt ad awareness, but with more of us simply fast-forwarding through commercials on our DVRs, it probably won’t help, either.”

We’ve been following this year’s legal battles of Aereo as major broadcast networks have sued the online TV startup over copyright infringement. Since the service streams TV signals of New York stations for a monthly fee without paying for the right to carry signals, Aereo has created an uproar in the television industry. Now Aereo has begun paying for content, after adding Bloomberg TV to its program lineup.

“We believe that our members will see deep value adding in Bloomberg Television as their ‘go-to’ source for financial news,” said Aereo founder and CEO Chet Kanojia in a written statement. The service also plans to announce expansion to 15 new cities early next year. Kanojia recently said that Aereo is pursuing additional content deals.

“Meanwhile, Aereo and major broadcasters are awaiting a critical decision from an appeals court in their legal battle,” notes the Wall Street Journal. “Last month broadcasters argued their appeal of a lower court’s decision in July denying the broadcasters’ request for a preliminary injunction shutting down Aereo’s service.”

The legal battle could take years to be resolved. “Without a preliminary injunction, Aereo has time to expand and streaming competitors also have a chance to emerge,” notes WSJ.

Playcast is a cloud-based gaming service that runs through pay TV, IPTV, or over-the-top TV providers like Google TV and Roku.

“For the end user, the system operates like VOD or an app, while remote servers actually run the games and stream a video feed of the gameplay in real-time,” reports Engadget. “On the back end, one server shelf can serve up to 15 players an HD (read: 720p) feed simultaneously, and graphical artifacting is kept to a minimum because it streams over the operator’s managed network.”

Playcast differentiates itself from OnLive because Playcast can brand its front-end interface to fit specific customers’ desires and does not need additional hardware. Playcast also offers packages of games for subscription use.

The company plans to launch in Q3 of 2013 with 10-15 packages of 20 games each. The packages will likely cost $10-$15 a month. Playcast will alternate 10 percent new games in each month to keep customers engaged.

“It appears that Playcast will provide casual gamers an intriguing option for getting their gaming fix next year,” concludes the post. “But we’re reserving judgment until we see how well the games run on a managed network, what titles are offered, and just how much it’ll cost.”

Many hedge fund and telecom execs have bought up various bands of spectrum in hopes of converting it for wireless networks. The FCC has denied several requests, keeping its strident allotment for airwaves, but the commission recently gave the rare green light to Dish Network.

“Late Tuesday, the FCC unanimously approved [Dish Chairman Charlie] Ergen’s plan,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Under the order, Dish would be required to not use a portion of its spectrum to avoid interference with neighboring airwaves, according to FCC officials. The company would also be required to cover at least 70 percent of the new network in each of its geographic license areas within seven years.”

Ergen started assembling the spectrum five years ago through government auctions and investments in flailing satellite companies, spending roughly $3 billion. “At a stroke, the FCC has now raised its value to as much as $12 billion, according to some analysts’ estimates. Mr. Ergen has to do the hard work of putting that spectrum to use or getting FCC approval to sell it,” the article states.

“Wireless service could give Dish an important new line of business in a mature U.S. pay TV market, where its cable TV rivals are able to sell popular ‘bundles’ of telephone, television, and high-speed Internet service.” Rather than building its own network, Dish could partner with a carrier like Sprint Nextel, or potentially even an outside company like Google, to offer wireless service with the spectrum.

“Consumers, meanwhile, could benefit whatever Dish decides, as the FCC’s decision frees up more bandwidth for data-hungry devices like smartphones and tablets,” explains WSJ. “The drawn-out process of converting that spectrum also highlighted how slowly regulators have moved to put much-needed airwaves to more valuable uses.”

During the TV of Tomorrow conference in New York, industry executives discussed how tablets, particularly the iPad, could be the future of television. Tablets and iPads have turned into the second screen for television viewing, and served as the focus of many of the talks at the conference. The second screen trend is both promising and troubling for television execs, as it presents new opportunities while also taking eyes away from advertisements.

People spend 22 minutes on second screens during a traditional 30-minute show, and 38 minutes during a 60-minute show, according to TVPlus co-founder Randy Shiozaki.

Dijit CEO Jeremy Toeman points out that second screen viewing works best for reality shows and other light entertainment. The technology does not work as well for more engaging dramas. Some challenges with second screen viewing involve the different technologies on the market, and the assorted apps for the various tablets.

Some executives maintain that while second screen viewing is exciting, television content is still the most important aspect of the television experience. “What’s been left out of the multiscreen conversation is the first screen, and that will come full circle,” said Lawrence Brickman, VP of smart TV app developer Accedo.

“But if Apple can leverage the incredible amount of energy the TV industry has already invested in the iPad, it may not matter if anyone else can do it better — Apple’s platform will hit scale across multiple screens before the industry even knows it’s happening,” suggests The Verge.

Last year’s Consumer Electronics Show broke attendance records, with more than 156,000 people descending upon Las Vegas. This January, the 2013 show is expected to match last year’s attendance and set a new record in terms of show floor space, with more than 1.85 million square feet of booths and exhibits.

“Every day brings more good news. We are bigger than last year, in terms of our footprint. That’s how we measure the size of the show in the trade-show world,” explains Consumer Electronics Association chief exec Gary Shapiro, who anticipates more than 3,300 exhibitors. “The thing I’m really excited about is the startup area,” notes Shapiro. “We did a deal last year for Eureka Park and we thought we’d have 30 companies. We had 100, and this year we have 140.”

Shapiro expects CES to be packed despite Microsoft’s absence. The company has traditionally given the opening keynote to kick off the show, but will be replaced this year by Paul Jacobs, CEO of mobile chip maker Qualcomm.

“That change is symbolic, as Microsoft represented the PC industry, while Qualcomm generates billions on the strength of smartphone and tablet chip sales,” reports VentureBeat.

Anticipated trends include touchscreen, gesture and sensor tech; wireless wallets; Ultra HD 4K TVs; 3D printing and cloud-based services. This year’s show will also feature an increased presence in terms of digital health, green technology and the automotive industry (including connected cars and electric vehicles).

“Another big draw will be anything connected to Apple,” explains VentureBeat. “Apple employees are coming, but Apple traditionally doesn’t exhibit or speak at CES. But the iLounge section devoted to Apple-related products built by other companies is now going to have 440 companies across 120,000 square feet.”

A federal appeals court panel is skeptical whether streaming service Aereo has the right to retransmit broadcast television content without permission, but has yet to issue a decision. Three judges of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals appeared ready to reverse July’s lower court decision that reluctantly gave Aereo approval.

ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are among the networks appealing the lower court judge’s decision that cited a Cablevision DVR case to allow Aereo to operate.

“Cablevision was a storage service, not a retransmission service,” says Bruce Keller, the networks’ attorney. “Aereo is a retransmission service by its own design. Without a license, it violates copyrights.” Paul Smith, another lawyer for the broadcasters, told the panel that the startup was trying to turn the Cablevision case “into a complete carte blanche where people can violate copyrights.”

Meanwhile, Aereo insists that it is complying with copyright laws and provides a legal, alternate platform for free TV broadcasts. Attorney R. David Hosp argued that Aereo lets customers “rent remotely located antennas to access content they could receive for free by installing the same equipment at home,” notes the Wall Street Journal.

“Aereo has grown from 100 users to more than 3,500 in the last year and has expanded from Apple devices such as the iPhone and iPad to devices including Windows computers,” reports WSJ. “It lets customers capture broadcasts from 29 local channels with subscriptions starting at $8 a month.”

To help get consumers interested in its 84-inch 4K Ultra HD TV priced near $25,000, Sony will loan buyers a 4K Ultra HD Video Player preloaded with 10 feature films in 4K format. According to the press release, the films include “The Amazing Spiderman,” “Total Recall,” “Salt,” “Bad Teacher,” “Bridge Over the River Kwai,” and “Taxi Driver,” among others.

The Ultra HD Video Player is designed to be updated with additional 4K titles and video clips, says the company. The Sony system includes the 84-inch 4K LED TV and an Xperia Tablet S that serves as a remote control.

“As a standalone unit, the Sony XBR-84X900 TV already upscales all video inputs, including the more than 7,000 Blu-ray Disc titles currently in distribution, to a near-4K resolution through the use of Sony’s proprietary 4K X-Reality PRO three-chip picture engine,” notes the press release.

“While there are other 4K Ultra HDTVs arriving this year — and we expect to see many more at CES in January — at the moment, this is the only one with a content delivery system in place, to go along with its upscaling chops, and the only studio pushing content at this res so far,” reports Engadget.

Samsung has announced that it will showcase an 85-inch Ultra High Definition TV at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. The set will be unveiled during a CES press conference on January 7 and then displayed at the Samsung booth (LVCC, Central Hall – 12004, 12527). The news comes after the TV was awarded a CES 2013 Best of Innovation award.

“Samsung’s 85-inch UHD TV, the world’s largest commercialized UHD LED TV, boasts lifelike picture quality in ultra HD resolution with over 8 million pixels, four times the resolution of Full HD displays,” according to the company.

“Samsung’s UHD TV uses an innovative enhanced dimming technology and a very high contrast ratio to deliver deep, real blacks and pure whites for greater detail and unmatched picture clarity. This new, cutting-edge TV also offers a powerful and dynamic range of sounds.”

The company has also been honored with a Best of Innovation award for its Smart TV Camera. “It adds Smart Interaction services, such as facial recognition and gesture control, to the company’s Smart TV sets that don’t come with a built-in camera,” reports Pocket-lint.

Stay tuned: The ETCentric reporting team will provide additional details on Samsung’s products live from CES.

Watching live television on an iPad currently has limited options. With a cable subscription, for example, users can stream Disney and ESPN shows. Alternatively, New York City viewers can opt for Aereo (but the networks are suing to shut it down). Enter Dyle, which just launched for Apple’s iOS devices. Dyle, with support from NBC, Fox and other top broadcast groups, has released a free TV app for iOS devices that uses broadcast signals to beam licensed programming to viewers. Continue reading Dyle Delivers Live TV to the Apple iPad: Ready for Prime Time?

We finally have progress on the CALM Act. After making its way through Capitol Hill, the act has formally been adopted in a ruling by the FCC, and will go into effect in December 2012.

“Responding to years of complaints that the volume on commercials was much louder than that of the programming that the ads accompany, the FCC on Tuesday passed the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM) to make sure that the sound level is the same for commercials and news and entertainment programming,” reports the Los Angeles Times.

The act, which makes it so commercials will have to “remain in-step with the audio levels of scheduled programming,” comes a year after Congress passed commercial volume legislation and instructed the FCC to create enforcement rules.

“I cannot tell you how many hundreds of citizens have told me — personally, through emails and letters, at public hearings, even across the family dinner table — how obnoxiously intrusive they find loud commercials,” explained FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps.

“We’re glad that consumers are finally going to get some relief from extra-loud TV ads,” said Parul P. Desai, policy counsel for Consumers Union. “People have been complaining about the volume of TV commercials for decades.”