DirecTV Group Inc. agreed to pay a total of $5 million to 21 states to settle an investigation into its marketing and advertising practices, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said Monday.

The El Segundo-based satellite TV operator also will pay refunds to thousands of consumers who complained about problems with their service, Spitzer said in a release. The amount of refunds was not specified.

The settlement ends an investigation started in March 2003 that was based upon numerous complaints from customers. Some DirecTV subscribers had said that certain advertised programs were not viewable and that sports programs in DirecTV’s Sports Package were, at times, blacked-out. Other subscribers complained that all local programming was not available as advertised and that many got poor reception. Cancellation policies were also called unfair.

Spitzer said he raised concerns that small, virtually unreadable print in advertisements modified company offers and that consumers were locked into contracts before learning what their monetary commitments to DirecTV were.

The company agreed to pay restitution to consumers who, among other things, complained they did not receive all the local channels they expected or were charged for canceling service before a free programming offer period expired, Spitzer said.

DirecTV also agreed to disclose in its advertising any additional monthly charges, any customer commitments when accepting promotional offers, all early termination charges, the limitations on availability of local channels, and whether games offered as part of sports packages could be blacked out.