As tensions rise over a possible Federal Communications Commission decision on its media ownership rules, Clear Channel is back in the breach, calling again for the agency to drop its ceiling on radio station ownership in big local markets.

This time the media giant says the FCC's recently released studies on media trends confirm the need to abandon the cap.

The ten new studies "add to the already overwhelming record [of] evidence in this proceeding that the terrestrial radio industry is vibrantly competitive," Clear Channel writes. "Accordingly, the Commission should move forward promptly to repeal the local radio ownership rule in its entirety."

The company says it will settle, however, for a rise in the cap in big markets like New York and Los Angeles (seventy-five stations or more) to ten stations. The present limit is eight. Clear Channel also wants to be able to buy more stations in smaller markets.

Clear Channel Executive Vice President Andrew Levin wrote to the FCC on October 22nd, praising studies number five and ten in particular. The last concluded that "[c]onsolidation of radio ownership does not diminish the diversity of local format offerings," and that market demographics predict what formats radio stations will choose rather than ownership structure, according to the firm's filing.

Study number five claimed that "consolidation in local radio markets has no statistically significant effect on advertising prices."

"Accordingly," Clear Channel argues, "the Commission cannot rely on a supposed risk of competitive harm to retain the local radio ownership rule."

But the Texas based company's filing came the same day as the Consumer Federation of American, the Consumer's Union, and Free Press submitted a lengthy critique of the ten studies, over 2,500 pages with supporting data.

"Consumer Commenters will show that the FCC’s official studies in this proceeding are an ad hoc collection of inconsistent, incompetent and incoherent pieces of research cobbled together to prove a foregone conclusion," the groups wrote. "Overwhelming evidence suggests that the Commission wanted to dramatically relax or eliminate the newspaper cross ownership rule, so it put together a series of studies it thought would support its preconceived notion."

And although newspaper reports earlier this month suggested that FCC Chair Kevin Martin wants to fast track a decision on the FCC's media ownership rules, more recent news stories suggest that the official agenda has been delayed.

Martin had hoped to issue specific proposals to relax some media ownership rules soon, the earlier reports suggested, holding a vote on the limits in mid-December after completing the last of six public hearings on the caps in Seattle on November 2nd.

But CommDaily reports today that Martin is having a hard time winning cooperation from his two fellow Republicans on the Commission.

"Republican Commissioners Robert McDowell and Deborah Tate don't necessarily oppose Martin's proposal, but the FCC sources said it's difficult for them to vote before they know more about the progress of talks between Martin and Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps," the CommDaily report says.

Adelstein and Copps, both Democrats, generally oppose relaxing the FCC's media ownership restrictions.