Cable lobbyist appointed head of FCC

[Matt Collins]

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/10/30/1546234/cable-lobbyist-tom-wheeler-confirmed-as-new-fcc-chief

[HOLLYWOOD]

Man, there's so much cronyism-corruption @ the FCC/Obama Administration/Washington DC

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-29/senate-confirms-wheeler-as-fcc-chief-after-cruz-ends-hold.html


Change We Can Believe In? Cable/Wireless Industry Lobbyist Will Now Head FCC (http://stopthecap.com/2013/04/30/change-we-can-believe-in-cablewireless-industry-lobbyist-will-now-head-fcc/)
Phillip Dampier April 30, 2013 Consumer News (http://stopthecap.com/category/issues/consumer-news/), Editorial & Site News (http://stopthecap.com/category/issues/editorial-site-news/), Public Policy & Gov't (http://stopthecap.com/category/issues/government-legislation/), Wireless Broadband (http://stopthecap.com/category/issues/wireless-broadband/) 6 Comments

http://stopthecap.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/wheeler.jpgWheeler

President Barack Obama will shortly nominate a former top cable and wireless industry lobbyist as his choice to represent the interests of the American people at the Federal Communications Commission.
Thomas Wheeler, who has been a telecom industry insider for at least 30 years and today serves as a venture capitalist, will have enormous influence over how the FCC manages the public airwaves, broadband, and wireless spectrum.


The Wall Street Journal reports (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323982704578455000613034748.html) this afternoon that President Obama may make a formal announcement as early as this Wednesday, with current FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn serving as interim chair until Wheeler is seated.
Wheeler is expected to take a more industry-friendly attitude at the FCC. As Stop the Cap! noted (http://stopthecap.com/2013/04/22/future-fcc-chairman-tom-wheelers-fruit-doesnt-fall-far-from-big-telecoms-tree/) after reviewing several years of Wheeler’s personal blog, the future FCC chairman would have approved the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile, considers Google, Apple and other technology companies challenging telecom public policy part of a “Silicon Valley mafia,” and praised AT&T’s chief lobbyist as a visionary that could define the wireless industry’s future.
Wheeler’s regulatory philosophy offers that mergers and acquisitions present an opportunity for regulators to impose certain temporary conditions on deals, offering the best opportunity to influence a short-term regulatory outcome. But such preconditions are often mild (http://stopthecap.com/2010/07/14/special-report-the-rise-and-fall-and-rise-again-of-alltel/), quickly expire (http://transition.fcc.gov/ATT_FINALMergerCommitments12-28.pdf), and are predictable for the companies involved. When Comcast sought merger approval for its deal with NBCUniversal, one concession was to sell discounted Internet access for poor families — a service Comcast had earlier plans to offer but withheld as a bargaining chip (http://stopthecap.com/2012/10/29/comcast-stalled-internet-service-for-disadvantaged-to-help-win-nbc-merger-deal/) during merger approval talks.
http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/whores.jpg