Thursday, May 02, 2013

The New F.C.C. Chairman



The more I read about him, the more I realize that I'm not a fan of this new F.C.C. Chairman pick. See if you can spot why in this piece in The Hill...
"Wheeler served as the president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, the lobbying organization for the cable industry, from 1979 to 1984. Later, he led CTIA, the lobbying arm for cellphone carriers and also worked as a venture capitalist. Wheeler raised at least $500,000 for Obama's 2012 re-election campaign and $200,000 for his 2008 campaign, according to transparency group OpenSecrets."
Three red flags there.
#1: He was a lobbyist for the cable industry, and he is supposed to oversee it.
#2: He was a lobbyist for the cellphone carriers, and he is supposed to oversee them.
#3: He was a venture capitalist, and those are the guys that helped finance the worst of the worst media owners (and plunged them into unsustainable debt)

I'm sorry. The more I think about it, the more I hate this pick. This new guy is almost certainly going to be on the side of Big Media and not on the side of the consumer. I sure hope I'm wrong, but when you read the tea-leaves, it doesn't look good.