BROOKE GLADSTONE: This is On the Media. I'm Brooke Gladstone.

BOB GARFIELD: And I'm Bob Garfield, with an update in the deregulation wars. And it's a big one. In a major victory for public interest groups and a blow for big media companies, a U.S. appeals court on Thursday told the FCC it could not enforce the loosened rules on media ownership it promulgated a year ago -- rules that would have permitted a company to own more broadcast stations in a single market.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: The Third Circuit Court said that the studies done by the FCC to support further deregulation contained, quote, "irrational assumptions and inconsistencies," and ordered the commission to better justify its decision. The court said it did not object to one company owning broadcast stations and newspapers in the same market, but said the FCC had to better explain why a single company should be allowed to own so many media outlets. Earlier this week, the Senate voted to repeal all of the FCC rule changes, but in the unlikely event that provision survived a House-Senate conference committee, the White House has promised a presidential veto. [MUSIC TAG]