created for calls furthering established business relationships was
expressly designed to cover
calls by cable television systems and newspapers to their existing subscribers:
Under the exception adopted by the Committee, an established
business relationship would include a business entity's existing
customers, for which an established business relationship is clearly
present. Therefore, magazines
, cable television franchises, and
newspapers all could call their current subscribers to continue
their subscriptions even if such subscribers objected to
`unsolicited' commercial calls
. . . . In the Committee's view, an
established business relationship also could be based upon any
prior transaction, negotiation, or inquiry between the called party
and the business entity.
29
When Congress enacted the Telemarketing Act, it noted that the purpose of this statute
paralleled the purpose of the TCPA,
30
which, as the FCC recognized, was designed to avoid
undue interference with ongoing business relationships.
31
The House Committee Report
accompanying the Telemarketing Act also recognized that legitimate telemarketing activities
are ongoing in everyday business and may provide a useful service to both businesses and their
customers . . . .
32
The House Committee emphasized that [r]egulating legitimate, mutually
beneficial activities is not the purpose of [the Telemarketing Act].
33
Instead, the House
Committee intended the legislation to focus only on unscrupulous activities from which no one
benefits but the perpetrator.
34
Moreover, for purposes of implementing the Telemarketing Act, Congress specifically
instructed the FTC to take into account the obligatio ns imposed by the TCPA and avoid adding
29
Id.
at 14 (emphasis added).
30
Id
.
31
TCPA Report and Order
, 7 F.C.C.R. 8752, 8770 (1992).
32
House Report on the Telemarketing Act
, H.R. Rep. No. 103 20, at 2 (1993).
33
Id.
34
Id.
15