Why did President Obama appoint Tom Wheeler to head the FCC? [View all]

[2banon]

Last edited Tue Feb 18, 2014, 06:14 PM - Edit history (1)

Tom Wheeler is the former head of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) and Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA).

Those are lobbying groups for the cable and cell phone industry.

This is the guy who made his fortune working in, later investing in, and lobbying on behalf of, the cable industry.

This is the guy who will almost certainly immediately upon leaving the FCC either go work for Comcast as past FCC chairs have done or back to head up the lobbying arms.

Why am I not seeing a critical mass (here on Du for a start) aggressively demanding that the FCC take action to restore net neutrality and shut down action of the Comcast/Time Warner merger?

This issue impacts the ability to even participate on this discussion board for those of us who cannot even afford to pay current rates.

Getting back to the question, I don't understand Obama's complete disregard for consumers by appointing to the FCC people who have financially benefited in the past (and most assuredly will do so again in the future) from anti-trust deregulations. I just don't get it.

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Editing to add a Call to Action : quick summary for Net Neutrality

The FCC simply needs to reverse a mistake it made in the Bush era and reclassify broadband Internet services.

If the FCC states that broadband should be treated as a telecommunications service, our problems are solved. Reclassifying would mean that our Internet service providers are common carriers, just like our phone companies are, and it would obligate them to treat the content that flows on their networks in a nondiscriminatory way.

But nothing will happen if we don’t speak up. Call on the FCC to do the right thing and fix this mess once and for all.

Summary on Media Consolidation

Stopping this kind of deal is exactly why we have antitrust laws.

This merger would put more than a third of all cable-TV subscribers in Comcast’s hands and give it control over more than half of the “triple-play” services that combine TV, phone and Internet service. Don’t forget, Comcast already owns NBC, MSNBC, Universal Studios and tons of cable networks. That means that for most of America, Comcast could control even more of what you see and how you see it.

Putting this much power in the hands of one company is dangerous. This deal would lead to less consumer choice, less diversity and much higher cable bills.

This is a fight we can win. Tell the FCC and the DoJ to stop this merger.

Call to Action