Legislation to renew the satellite television law governing the transmission of broadcast signals via DIRECTV and the Dish Network just can't cut a break. After the Senate Finance Committee Thursday morning released a draft of its massive jobs bill containing provisions to renew the law for another five years — until Dec. 31, 2014 — the section was stripped out Thursday afternoon, along with several other tangential riders.

A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Reid, D-Nev., said in an email that the cuts were made to make the underlying jobs legislation "more targeted" so it can move more quickly. The law was set to expire December 31st before receiving a last-minute, two-month extension until February 28th. Even though Congress spent most of 2009 on the highly technical and controversial satellite legislation, reauthorization efforts collapsed in December, forcing the temporary fix. The spokeswoman noted that alternatives are now being explored for moving the satellite measure before the current law expires. (Source: nextgov)