Attorneys for the current and former owners of the Salt Lake Tribune announced Wednesday they have reached a settlement that will put an end to a protracted and costly legal battle over control of the paper.

A joint announcement states all parties have reached a global settlement "of all litigation relating to the ownership of the Salt Lake Tribune." The statement was issued by Tribune Publishing and the McCarthey family on one side and MediaNews, Kearns-Tribune, Management Planning and Deseret News Publishing on the other side.

The settlement means that the McCarthey family, which has waged a seven-year legal battle to gain back control of the paper, which they have called the "family jewel," will walk away from their interest in buying the paper back in exchange for a confidential settlement.

MediaNews CEO and Tribune publisher Dean Singleton said he looks forward to continuing the publication of the paper and to vigorous competition with the Deseret Morning News.

"We are appreciative that the McCarthey family, the Deseret Morning News, Management Planning and others were willing to come together and resolve this seven-year dispute over ownership of The Salt Lake Tribune," Singleton said. "The McCarthey family has a passionate love of the Tribune and what it means to Utah. We pledge to do our best to make all who love the Tribune proud as we strive to edit an outstanding newspaper for all who live in Utah."

The former owners said they decided to settle to avoid more years of litigation.

"After nearly seven years of litigation and several trips to the appeals court, we decided to take a substantial settlement and move on," said Phil McCarthey, whose family owned the paper since 1901.

McCarthey said the changes MediaNews has made to the paper over the past few years made it such that his family could not buy it back in the same state it was in when the family lost control of the paper during a 1997 corporate merger with TCI.

TCI later merged with AT&T, which sold the Tribune to MediaNews in January 2001. However, the McCartheys claimed they had a right to buy the paper back under an option agreement. Briefly, AT&T had considered offering the paper to the Deseret Morning News, making the paper a party to the suit.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the family's right to purchase the paper but said it could only do so at fair market value.

For the next several years both sides fought over the value of the paper, which the McCartheys claimed was $200 million or less and an independent appraisal company, Management Planning, claimed was $355.5 million.