The act renewed statutory licenses that allow satellite TV companies to retransmit broadcast stations to their customers for five years.
The licenses had been set to expire at the end of May 2010, and the bill also included measures to modernize and simplify licensing processes and encourage satellite providers to make more local content available.
It cleared the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in November 2009.
[4] It was reintroduced as S. 3333, this time by Sen. Pat Leahy of Vermont, on May 7, 2010, and passed the same day.
On May 12, 2010, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010.