By a 4-1 vote, FCC late Thursday conditionally approved the sale of Clear Channel Communications' TV station group to Providence Equity Partners Inc.

The question now is does anybody really care.

Clear Channel confirmed three weeks ago that Providence's interest in completing the $1.2 billion deal has been waning and that it may pull out, despite a $45 million breakup penalty.

Providence and Clear Channel executives and representatives could not be reached for comment on Thursday's FCC action.

The deal involves 35 full-power TV stations and associated low-power and Class A stations and translators.

To buy Clear Channel, Providence set up a new company, Newport Television, and hired veteran broadcaster Sandy DiPasquale to manage it.

Newport executives declined to comment.

Providence also has interests in two other broadcast groups, Univision and Freedom Communications.

Because of those interests, Providence/Newport's acquisition of the Clear Channel stations would put it in violation of the FCC local ownership rules in nine markets. The rules restrict the markets and conditions under which one owner can own two stations—a duopoly—in a single market.

Therefore, the FCC conditioned its grant of the deal on Providence coming into compliance with the duopoly rules in eight markets within six months and one market before consummation.

Seven of the nine problem markets involve combinations of Univision and Clear Channel stations. The FCC said that Providence/Newport could either spin off the Clear Channel station in the markets or Providence could divest its interest in Univision.

The seven markets: Bakersfield, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Fresno-Visalia, and Monterey-Salinas, all Calilfornia; Salt Lake City, Utah; and San Antonio, Texas.

In the eighth market, Jacksonville, Fla., Providence/Newport will also have six months to sell one of the two stations Clear Channel currently has there, WTEV and WAWS.

FCC rules prohibit common ownership of two of the four top-rated stations in markets the size the Jacksonville.

When Clear Channel first put the combo together, it was permissible because WTEV was not a top four stations. But it fell out of compliance after WTEV picked up the CBS affiliation in 2002 and rose into the top four. WAWS is a Fox affiliate and also within the top four.

The last market is Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y. There, Freedom owns the CBS and CW affiliates, WRGB and WCWN, respectively, and Clear Channel owns the Fox affiliate, WXXA.

The FCC said the under its rules no group should be allow to own one station in the market of that size, let alone three. Freedom has been able to own two under a 2006 waiver.

As part of Providence's acquisition of a stake in Univision earlier this year, Providence said that it would divest its interest in Freedom to come into compliance with the broadcast-newspaper crossownership rule in several markets.

Because Providence has been dragging its feet on that divestiture, the FCC said it would not grant Providence/Newport a six-month waiver in the market. It would have to follow through with the Freedom divestiture before closing on Clear Channel.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps cast the dissenting vote, saying the FCC should investigate what impact private equity ownership was having on broadcasting before approving any more deals.