The Motion Picture Association, which includes Netflix, Disney, Amazon Prime Video and Paramount, and the Streaming Innovation Alliance, which includes Netflix, Disney, Peacock and Pluto TV, opposed the bill. The groups argued that “many” streaming services were already trying to manage the “volume of ads that come from server-side ad insertion that may be inconsistent with the volume of programs,” according to a state Assembly analysis. (PDF) starting September 2025. Server-side ads may have different volumes as companies use multiple encoding channels.
Additionally, as opposition groups have previously noted, streaming services must compete with a wide range of output devices, including televisions, tablets and phones.
Report on how streaming services could follow California law, trade publication television technology in December reported: “Streaming providers will need to integrate file-based, and in some cases real-time, processing and volume control into their server-side commercial insertion workflow, just as they currently do for their core programming.”
The obstacles to managing ad volume are underscored when considering the dissatisfaction that persists among broadcast, cable and satellite viewers. The FCC said it received “at least” 1,700 complaints about this in 2024, about 825 in 2023 and about 750 in 2022.
