The silence may be pleasantly deafening for more than 48 million U.S. telephone customers.

But not necessarily for newspapers and third-party telemarketers.

Oct. 1 was the date telemarketing companies had to begin complying with the national do-not-call registry established by the Federal Trade Commission.

The registry, put into motion earlier this year, appears to be a resounding success; more than 6 million consumers registered during the Labor Day weekend alone as the general public took steps to bar companies from calling their homes.

Dialing a number on the DNC registry can turn to a costly lesson for newspapers and telemarketers. Violators are subject to fines of up to $11,000 for every offense; each call may be considered a separate infraction, according to the FTC.

Getting message across

In response, newspapers say they will work smarter to retain and attract new customers.

In fact, some papers say, the do-not-call program may actually help them focus on consumers receptive to their marketing messages.

“We believe that the people who add their names to the lists are predisposed against buying anything over the phone anyway,” said Toby Usnik, director of public relations at The New York Times Co.

The DNC program, he said, is “weeding out” non-buyers and will help fuel The Times’ move to decrease its reliance on outbound telemarketing.

Still, the phone will continue to be an important tool for newspapers. FTC regs permit companies to contact consumers with whom they’ve done business in the last 18 months.

That could give a significant boost to companies such as SoundBite Communications, an interactive voice marketing company that counts as clients such dailies as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle. The company, founded in 2000, makes more than 2.5 million calls each day.

SoundBite sends interactive voice messages and subscribers can respond in a variety of ways, said Tom Gregory, vice president of sales and marketing.

In the process, SoundBite’s software can capture myriad information from the caller, including name, street address, e-mail address, credit card number and the option to be connected to a customer service representative.

Can tell if you’re breathing

The software can also decipher if it’s contacted a live person or an answering machine. Accordingly, it will either deliver the message or leave information asking the caller to respond at a later time.

Papers use SoundBite to verify new starts - sending a message to consumers confirming that copies are being delivered.

That was the first application used by the San Francisco Chronicle, which has subsequently added more SoundBite services to manage such tasks as credit-card payment, customer surveys and payment reminders.

SoundBite clients pay between 14 and 21 cents per call for the service, Gregory said.

“The cost is going to be less than the cost of a postage stamp and far less than a live phone call,” Gregory said.

For smaller publications, SoundBite offers SoundBite Express, a self-service option that enables users to create messages and send them to subscribers at any time.

Distribution lists can be uploaded to the SoundBite Web site or created and managed online or over the phone.s