Tektronix (News - Alert), a provider of broadcast video test, monitoring and analysis solutions, launched Sentry Assure, the latest addition to its Sentry digital content monitors.

The new line is designed to assist cable television operators and other providers of multi-channel video services to comply with the Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act.

According to the new Act, ads should not be louder than the programs they accompany.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)) is set to adopt rules for the CALM Act's enforcement. Cable operators need to comply with these new rules in one year. Failure to comply with them could result in a fine for each instance of an overly loud commercial. This could be a major issue for cable operators offering hundreds of channels.

Leveraging Sentry Assure, operators can comply with government regulations for closed captioning thanks to its support for the SCTE-608, SCTE-708 and SCTE-20 specifications.

Sentry Assure from Tektronix is designed to identify loud commercials in the multi-channel environment. Sentry Assure is an ideal solution for cable operators' CALM Act needs. Its post-splice monitoring capability identifies when local ads are not inserted correctly, enabling operators to diagnose and repair the issue, eliminating revenue loss from ads failing to air properly.

“Variations in content loudness have been a challenge for decades, but because of the CALM Act they could have a costly impact to the bottom line of cable operators,” said Eben Jenkins, general manager, Video Product Line at Tektronix, in a statement. “We've developed Sentry Assure to give operators what they need to tackle loud ads and to enable them to come into full compliance with the CALM Act.”

Sentry has the capability to simultaneously monitor hundreds of channels in real time, enabling multi-channel video service providers to comprehensively and continually monitor their entire channel line-up to identify loud commercials. 

Recently, Tektronix Communications (News - Alert) announced the launch of new software enhancements to its Access Monitoring solutions. These solutions are aimed at assisting network equipment manufacturers and mobile network operators to transition to LTE (News - Alert) by improving visibility and analysis of their mobile network.