Legal News

DirecTV, ComCast to Pay $3.2M Over Do-Not-Call Violations

Satellite television giant DirecTV and nationwide cable and internet provider ComCast have agreed to pay more than $3.2 million to settle charges that they violated "Do-Not-Call" provisions of the federal Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced last week.

According to an FTC Press Release announcing the agreement: "DirecTV has agreed to pay $2.31 million to settle the FTC?s charges that it violated the TSR?s Do Not Call provisions and, as a result, violated a 2005 court order barring it from such conduct. Comcast has agreed to pay $900,000 to settle the FTC?s claims that it violated the entity-specific Do Not Call provisions of the TSR."

The DirecTV and ComCast fines come on the heels of a federal lawsuit against Dish Network that was filed in March. In that case, the FTC accused Dish Network of calling numerous consumers who had placed their phone numbers on the Do-Not-Call list, and of using unlawful ?robocalls? -- which deliver prerecorded telemarketing messages when consumers answer their phones.

The National Do Not Call Registry allows consumers to decide whether they want to receive telemarketing calls. Under federal guidelines, most telemarketers must stop calling a number once it's been on the do-not-call list for 31 days. Learn more about the National Do Not Call Registry.

• FTC Press Release on DirecTV and ComCast's Agreement to Pay $3.2M (FTC.gov)
• L.A. Times: DirecTV, Comcast Violate Their Own Do Not Call Lists
• Dish Network Charged with Do-Not-Call Telemarketing Violations (FindLaw's Common Law)
• Consumer Protection Information from the FTC (FTC.gov)
• National Do Not Call Registry

Full post as published by FindLaw's Common Law on April 22, 2009 (boomark / email).