Which part of ‘do not call’ don’t you understand?

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Federal government to DirecTV: ‘Do not call’ really means ‘do not call.’

DirecTV agreed to pay $2.31 million to settle charges that it made more than 1 million calls to its customers who had -- as was their right -- placed themselves on a ‘do not call’ list.

And why did the company call? To ask the customers to remove themselves from the list, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

“The pre-recorded message,” the government said in court documents, “told persons who received the calls that ‘from time to time, (DirecTV) extend(s) exciting offers to our loyal customers like you. But because you are on the DirecTV Do Not Call list, we are not able to contact you for these exciting offers.’”

The message then instructed call recipients to press 1 on the phone to remove themselves from the list.

The call violated the FTC’s Telemarketing Service Rule, the agency said

Representatives of DirecTV, which did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement announced today, declined to be interviewed. But in a short statement, the company said the calls were made “to determine whether we had correctly recorded customers’ do-not-call status.”

The settlement amount was dwarfed by $5.3 million paid in 2005 by a company charged with do-not-call violations. That company: DirecTV.

‘What makes DirecTV’s actions especially troubling is that it is a two-time offender,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz.

In a separate action announced today, cable provider Comcast Corp. agreed to pay $900,000, also to settle do-not-call accusations.

-- David Colker