Everyone’s second favorite government agency (just behind the NSA) is going to have a new sheriff in town.
We have a new Federal Communications Commission chairman. The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Tom Wheeler, Obama’s nominee to head up the country’s communications regulatory body on Tuesday, after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) lifted his objections. Wheeler, who has been the chief lobbyist for both the cable and the mobile industries, will take over an FCC about to embark on massive transfer of spectrum from the TV broadcasters to the mobile carriers. He will also have a crucial say in some key consolidation deals, including AT&T’s acquisition of the country’s now fifth largest operator Leap Wireless, as well as oversee some fairly controversial issues facing the commission such as net neutrality and interoperability among mobile operators.
