[JURIST] Tribune Co. [corporate website] and the parent companies of CBS, Fox and NBC have filed an appeal with the Supreme Court asking the court to restore the government's new media ownership rules which had been thrown out by the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit [court website]. At issue is are FCC [official website] rules easing ownership restrictions, in effect allowing one company to own multiple television stations in a single market. Supporters of the new rules were dealt a severe setback last week as the Justice Department [official website] decided to forego its own appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court would have been more likely to hear the appeal if the government had been involved. Read the Third Circuit opinion [PDF] and related documents. Read more about the FCC's goals in media ownership [FCC backgrounder]. AP has more.