Individuals who received marketing calls from television provider DirecTV may be entitled to a potential payment of over $450 as part of a new settlement.
DirectTV recently agreed to a settlement in a class action lawsuit brought against it for allegedly violating the National Do Not Call Registry. Per the suit, a third-party dealer for the pay TV provider, AC1, made thousands of telemarketing calls to individuals who had opted to put their name in the registry and therefore should not have been contacted.
According to DirecTV's official announcement, just shy of 114,000 numbers on the registry were contacted by AC1. The company agreed to pay a total of $16.85 million to those affected by this breach. The minimum individual payment amount is estimated to be roughly $324, but the average payout is expected to be roughly $464.
Individuals can follow this link to check if their phone number is among the list of 113,997 that are known to have been contacted by AC1 and are therefore entitled to receive a payment. In order to claim the money, individuals must fill out a form on the official settlement webpage by August 7.
Payments will be distributed at an unknown time after this deadline. According to the official settlement page, a "final fairness hearing" is scheduled in the case on August 24, likely meaning that payments will be made sometime after that date. The settlement could be called off if the court decides at that final hearing that the agreement is unfair.
"DIRECTV, LLC has settled a class action that claimed that its dealer AC1, based in Ohio, made telemarketing calls to people whose numbers were on the National Do Not Call Registry, without consent," the company's official statement explained. "You are included in the Settlement if your telephone number is one of 113,997 known numbers that received calls...If you are included, your legal rights are affected whether you act or do not act. Read the Notice carefully. The Court in charge of this case hasn't decided to approve it yet. Payments will only be made if the Court decides the Settlement is fair and approves the Settlement. The Court has ordered the Notice."
Newsweek reached out to DirecTV via email for comment.
The Do Not Call Registry was established by the federal government in the early 2000s to allow families and individuals to opt out of receiving telemarketing calls. Adhering to the list is required for all legitimate companies, though individuals are still liable to receive calls from scammers operating illicitly and automated robocalls.
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