Is FCC Chair Wheeler, a Former Cable Company Lobbyist, Still Working for Cable’s Interests?

Chairman of the FCC and former Cable company lobbyist Tom Wheeler has done a 180 degree shift of police since May 2014. Wants to make Internet Public Utility.
Is FCC Chair Wheeler, a Former Cable Company Lobbyist, Still Working for Cable’s Interests?
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler and the panel redefined broadband internet as speeds of at least 25/3 Mbs, show here on May 15, 2014 at the FCC headquarters in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
2/4/2015
Updated:
2/4/2015

In an op-ed published in Wired magazine Wednesday Jan. 4 the Chairman of the FCC Tom Wheeler made the case for the necessity of government involvement to preserve a free and open Internet.

In it, he suggests reclassifying broadband Internet as a public utility under a “modified” Title II of the Telecommunications Act, a vague proposal that has watchers worried. 

Wheeler’s opens up his op-ed writing that the conversation about Internet regulation has been going on for a decade, and the FCC has received almost 4 million comments about net neutrality. 

“The time to settle the Net Neutrality question has arrived,” he declares.

Policy Flip Flops

Wheeler was formerly a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and a cable company lobbyist who used to advocate on behalf of corporate concerns.