Satellite LiL last reauthorization bill:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111s3333enr/pdf/BILLS-111s3333enr.pdf
I refer you to section 103:
122. Limitations on exclusive rights: Secondary transmissions of local television
programming by satellite.’’.
(b) STATUTORY LICENSE.—Section 122(a) is amended to read
as follows:
‘‘(a) SECONDARY TRANSMISSIONS INTO LOCAL MARKETS.—
‘‘(1) SECONDARY TRANSMISSIONS OF TELEVISION BROADCAST
STATIONS WITHIN A LOCAL MARKET.—A secondary transmission
of a performance or display of a work embodied in a primary
transmission of a television broadcast station into the station’s
local market shall be subject to statutory licensing under this
section if—
‘‘(A) the secondary transmission is made by a satellite
carrier to the public
‘‘(B) with regard to secondary transmissions, the satellite
carrier is in compliance with the rules, regulations,
or authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission
governing the carriage of television broadcast station
signals; and
‘‘(C) the satellite carrier makes a direct or indirect
charge for the secondary transmission to—
‘‘(i) each subscriber receiving the secondary transmission;
or
‘‘(ii) a distributor that has contracted with the
satellite carrier for direct or indirect delivery of the
secondary transmission to the public.
As you can see the law grants a statutory license allowing the satellite programmer to rebroadcast the OTA station in a secondary transmission (i.e. from the satellite) if they follow the rules including (ii) which the broadcaster (distributor) has contracted with them.
The statutory license lets the satellite company broadcast the signal without having to get copyright clearance from everyone involved, just the broadcasting station.
A very similar law exists for cable which was mentioned in the Aereo decision.
The satellite transmissions and cable transmissions are statutory licenses allowing them to bypass the copyrights of the broadcast for the retransmission.
Aereo was claiming they were not retransmitting the signals, that the end user was doing it instead. The court ruled that it was not the individual but Aereo doing the secondary transmissions and acting like a cable company. Yes 3 judges disagreed, but that does not matter...
So, for Aereo to get the statutory license to rebroadcast they would have to get the permission of the broadcaster.
As I stated above the cable and satellite laws allow for a copyright exemption via statutory licensing of all the material, working backwards by making it legal to retransmit.