House Passes Bill that Would Extend Satellite Blanket License to April 30

It looks like the satellite blanket license might have to continue to be a temporary tag.

According to a copy of the bill's language, HR 4851 has been introduced in the House to extend the March 28 expiration of that license to April 30. When Congress failed to pass a five-year extension of the license that allows satellite companies to offer distant network TV station signals to subscribers who can't receive a viewable local version, the license was extended to Feb. 28 along with several jobs-related programs that were also scheduled to sunset Dec. 31, 2009. That deadline passed without either a reauthorization or extension and the license briefly expired, but was extended within days to March 28 in hopes that the full, five-year extension could pass by then. It did pass in the Senate, with language to retroactively cover the few days when the license expired, but that bill has gotten caught up in the House, according to a Senate Judiciary Committee source, hence the introduction of yet another extension.

Update:

The House passed HR 4851 on March 17, according to a Hill staffer following the satellite bill's progress. The bill is a stop-gap measure that extends until April 30 the satellite blanket license, along with other programs--like unemployment benefits--that had been scheduled to sunset back in December. Now the bill must go to the Senate for passage before March 28, when the current license expires. The House is also currently considering the Senate-passed full, five-year reauthorization of the satellite license, which allows satellite companies to offer distant network TV station signals to subs who can't receive a viewable local version.