A federal court in Illinois ordered Dish Network to pay a record $280 million fine after it found the satellite TV provider’s retailers ignored do-not-call registries, peppering homes with millions of illegal telemarketing calls.
The original suit was filed in 2009 and claimed that Dish and some of its contractors violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule by making more than 55 million pre-recorded automated calls, also known as “robo-calls,” to homes in California, North Carolina, Ohio and Illinois.
The fine is a record for robo-call violations, according to reports.
Dish plans to appeal the ruling.
“Dish respectfully disagrees with the decision by the Court and will appeal the ruling at the appropriate time," Dish Network said in a statement.
