ATHENS—Greece’s parliament late on Saturday passed an overhaul of the country’s licensing system for private television, a reform the governing left-wing Syriza party sees as part of its quest to take on Greece’s business oligarchs.

The new legislation dictates, among other things, how TV broadcast licenses will be issued, for how long they would valid and when they can be revoked.

The bill was supported by a majority of Greece’s 300 lawmakers.

The new law calls for an auction for new 10-year licenses, expected next year, will exclude companies with tax arrears and those with other major public-sector contracts. The government says the latter provision will prevent media owners from applying political pressure, via their news coverage, to win public-works contracts.

The legislation also sets the cost of obtaining a license and a maximum number of employees that can be hired at each station depending upon the kind of programs the network broadcasts. News-heavy channels must pay more for licenses than purely entertainment channels.