NY does have laws about this, but I'm going to guess that if anywhere has exemptions, it's Times Square.

https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/real-estate/rep...

I wouldn't say any of them are individually too bright (except maybe the big Nasdaq screen). I would say, however, that the density or collection of the boards makes for a really lit up scene. What disturbs me more is the frequent changes in color due to ads switching and lights going from on to off or one color to another. That fast and random changing can be annoying.