ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Officials with both companies say DISH Network owner Echostar Communications and Viacom are nearing settlement of a dispute that took popular channels away from millions of satellite TV customers.

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A Viacom executive said a solution is expected in "a very timely fashion." Earlier, Echostar officials said they will do "whatever it takes" to resolve a fee dispute with Viacom.

On Tuesday, Echostar dropped Viacom channels, including CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon and other popular networks from its satellite service. The move affects as many as 9 million customers in all 50 states.

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Although both companies publicly have assailed each other, EchoStar chairman and CEO Charles Ergen said they're still talking.

EchoStar accuses Viacom of proposing "excessive" rate increases that the company feels is "unreasonable."

Mark Rosenthal, president and chief operating officer at MTV Networks, said in a statement Tuesday that the ball is in EchoStar's court.

"Unless and until they pick it up, all we can do is inform their unhappy customers, who are calling us by the tens of thousands, about all the excellent alternative TV distribution services available to them with cable and with DirecTV," Rosenthal said.

Meanwhile, a published report says Viacom Chief Executive Sumner Redstone is signaling that his company might seek to buy a cable TV system.

But the Wall Street Journal reported that Redstone didn't suggest that his company would move soon, and that he made it clear that he wasn't interested in acquiring EchoStar.

Additional Resources:

• EchoStar
• Viacom