Echostar Communications Corp. will pay $100 million to end a nine-year litigation with ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox Affiliate Associations over the rebroadcasting of local TV programs, Echostar announced Aug. 28.

The agreement will allow Echostar to continue local network channels, and the satellite operator plans to expand those offerings to 175 markets by the end of 2006, the company said in a statement. The $100 million payment will “protect its subscribers from the potential shut-off of their distant network channels,” Echostar said. As part of the settlement, the company also agreed to terminate signals rebroadcast to customers not eligible to receive them.

Distant channels are ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox network channels that originate from a market outside the community in which the subscriber lives. Fewer than 1 million Echostar subscribers receive these signals, the company said.

The agreement follows an Aug. 22 opinion written by U.S. Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas not to delay a May decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit that could have forced Echostar to stop rebroadcasting network TV shows.

Echostar was sued in 1998 by major commercial TV networks claiming that the rebroadcast of copyrighted programming by Echostar to individual consumers violated a federal law that states that satellite companies can carry network signals from other markets only if homes cannot receive signals through other means. Echostar previously settled with hundreds of TV stations and station groups, including the ABC, NBC and CBS networks, and the latest agreement brings the total settlements to nearly 800 stations, Echostar said.

The settlement is contingent on confirmation by the U.S. Federal District Court in Florida.

Echostar has yet to reach a settlement with Fox Network, which owns about 25 stations. Fox is owned by News Corp., which also owns Echostar rival DirecTV.

“Though unlikely, it is possible Fox’s last-minute tactic could derail the entire settlement and force Echostar to seek legislation to protect its subscribers from disruption,” Echostar said.