UPDATE 2-Tribune Co gets temporary ownership rule waiver

(Adds byline and recasts with background, comments from FCC commissioners and comment from Tribune)

By Peter Kaplan

WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - U.S. communications regulators on Friday cleared the way for media group Tribune Co TRB.N to proceed with its planned leveraged buy-out, agreeing to temporarily waive media ownership restrictions that could have stood in the way of the deal.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted by a margin of 3-2 to temporarily exempt Tribune from rules in several U.S. cities that restrict the ownership of a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same market.

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, one of three Republicans on the commission, said the decision would allow Tribune to strengthen its news-gathering operations and allow it to compete against "a growing chorus of new media voices in the information, opinion and entertainment market place ...

"Approving this transaction allows the new owners to breathe new life into Tribune's newspapers and broadcast properties," McDowell said.

The FCC said it denied Tribune's request for a permanent exemption in a number of U.S. cities, but granted a permanent waiver in Chicago, where the company owns the Chicago Tribune newspaper, along with a radio and television station.

The temporary waivers will be in effect as the FCC considers a wider proposal by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to relax the cross-ownership ban in the 20 biggest U.S. cities. Under Friday's FCC decision, they will extend for a period of two years, or until six months after the end of litigation over the ownership rules, the FCC said.

Martin has said the rule change he has proposed would help bolster the newspaper industry by allowing owners in the top markets to buy a television or radio station.