We've been watching the FCC meetings on CSPAN-3 for much of the day (yeah we're wild like that). Un-thwarted by attending protesters at the vote, the commission voted 3-2 across partisan lines today to ease thirty-two year old rules that prohibited broadcasters in the nation's 20 largest media markets from also owning a newspaper.

Concerned with the harm additional consolidation could have on media diversity, a number of Senators quickly created a law that would block the vote, assuming it is passed. In his own defense, FCC boss Kevin Martin quickly issued a press statement (pdf) insisting that diversity was precisely what he was after:Martin and Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama apparently used different dictionaries to define "diversity":While some media giants are certainly pleased with Martin, not all of them (we're talking about you, Comcast) are going to be happy today. The FCC also voted to cap the growth of the largest cable operators at 30% of the pay TV market (Comcast currently sits somewhere around 27%). We've discussed what motivates the FCC boss at length.

Statements from all the commissioners should show up on the FCC website before the end of the day. You can expect both controversial decisions to be debated extensively in the courts and Congress.