DirecTV Settles FTC Charges

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DirecTV Group Inc. will pay $5.4 million in civil penalties to settle charges that since 2003 its telemarketers called households listed on the national Do Not Call registry to pitch satellite TV programming, the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday.


The El Segundo-based satellite TV operator agreed to pay the largest civil penalty ever imposed by the FTC for violating consumer-protection rules, the agency said.


The complaint, filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in Federal District Court in Los Angeles, names as defendants DirecTV, five firms that it hired to telemarket on its behalf, and six principals of those telemarketing firms.


One of the companies, Global Satellite D.R.D. Inc., violated FTC rules by failing to put a live caller on the line within two seconds after a consumer answered the phone. The FTC complaint also charged that DirecTV gave assistance to Global Satellite even though it knew the company was violating the telemarketing sales rule.


Global Satellite and Nomrah Records were also sued by the FTC. Lawsuits against those companies and several of their officers are still pending. Telemarketing companies Communication Concepts and American Communications agreed to pay $25,000 and $50,000, respectively, to settle charges arising from their work for DirecTV.


DirecTV said in a statement that the majority of the complaints were the result of calls placed by the independent companies and that it has terminated its relationships with those companies.


“DirecTV wholly supports the national Do Not Call Registry and our agreement with the FTC reflects our commitment to prevent unwanted and unlawful telemarketing calls to existing and potential DirecTV customers,” the company said in a statement.


The FTC settlement comes one day after the company agreed to pay $5 million to 21 states to settle an investigation brought by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer into its marketing and advertising practices.


Shares of DirecTV fell 0.4 percent to settle at $13.72 on Tuesday.

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