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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) disclosed a series of settlements on violations of "do not call" (DNC) rules and regulations that will cost third- party telemarketers working for satellite programming service operator DirecTV more than $100,000. A year ago, DirecTV itself paid a $5.3 million penalty in the case.
Civil lawsuits and new settlements in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division involve defendants doing business as Communication Concepts and American Communications of the Triad, Power Direct/D.R.D. Inc. and Global Satellite LLC/Mavcomm. In mid-August, two other third parties in the ongoing DirecTV case - Nomrah Records and Direct Activation - settled by agreeing to pay a total of $75,000 in the same court.
The settlements, formally based on litigation brought by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on behalf of the FTC, stem from complaints made by the federal agency in December 2005. The FTC and the DoJ accused DirectTV's telemarketers of purposely dipping into the "National Do Not Call Registry" database to make unwanted calls, abandoning calls to consumers by failing to put a live sales representative on the line within two seconds after the call is answered (as required under the law) and collaborating to break provisions of the FTC's "Telemarketing Sales Rule" (TSR) restrictions.
DirectTV's payment was said to be the largest ever for alleged violations of DNC and TSR provisos. The latest settlements also extract civil penalties of $25,000 and $50,000 from its telemarketers Communication Concepts and American Communications, respectively; the two also are being hit with penalty judgments of $205,000 and $746,300, respectively, but those amounts effectively are suspended, based on their inability to pay. The FTC's final judgments and orders against Power Direct/D.R.D and Global Satellite/Mavcomm involve $35,000 and $653,013 respectively, but the latter case will involve only a total $65,000 payment based on the defendant's inability to pay.
These recent orders and the August settlement - which also named the executives who run the companies - are said to include permanent injunctions that bar the defendants from violating rules in the future. The documents also call for the companies to conduct monitoring and record-keeping activities to help ensure their compliance.
Since the DirectTV payment last year, FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras reportedly has been warning the industry that the rules and regulations apply to all players in the marketing chain, including retailers and their telemarketers. The National Do Not Call Registry - managed by the FTC - handles both wireline and wireless telephone numbers, and its enforcement can be coordinated with Federal Communications Commission rules and regulations regarding telemarketing calls and automatic dialers.
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