Could the tide be turning in mainstream media-land? If so, Clear Channel Communications is the new trend's bellwether. The Dow Jones newswire reported today that Richard Bressler, managing director of Thomas H. Lee Partners--one of the private equity firms involved in a deal to take Clear Channel private--told the House Telecommunications Subcommittee during a hearing that Clear Channel would be "best served" by owning fewer radio stations in fewer markets.

Guess "synergy" is officially dead.

Clear Channel, like many other big media concerns spent the late 1990's and early 2000's acquiring as many media properties as they legally could in pursuit of a "bigger is always better" strategy. Now these very same companies are tearing themselves apart. In Clear Channel's case, it spun off its entertainment division as Live Nation; it is also offloading its TV division and many stations in smaller markets.

Bressler said that "this streamlined approach" would "enable Clear Channel to more efficiently deploy and market its digital offerings in the face of competitive challenges from other digital platforms." Of course, Bressler was simply trying to defend the $22 billion deal his firm is involved in to a panel that was assembled to investigate the role private equity is playing in media consolidation. Then again, hearing such talk from Bressler, who also happens to be the former CFO of both AOL Time Warner and Viacom, carries much added weight, to say the very least.