Chairman Wheeler: Cable needs to welcome competition and change; FCC not so much

Addressing a depleted, surprisingly docile general assembly crowd today at INTX, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler steered clear from the specifics of three controversial proposals targeting the cable industry. He instead used the narrative of his own background as a top executive at the cable business' main lobbying group, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, to describe what he sees as a previously competitive and innovative industry that has lost its way.

"Forty years ago, I was working at the NCTA … that was a long, long time ago, and that was at a point in time where the cable industry was the voice of competition and innovation," Chairman Wheeler said. "And in those days, those who didn't want the industry to change were broadcasters, Hollywood and the telephone industry." Chairman Wheeler said that his job is to infuse more competition into the industry. "Competition is better than regulation, particularly in a fast-moving industry like this," he said. "But government has a role to say, 'Excuse me, first we have to get to competition." Chairman Wheeler reminded the audience of cable industry denizens that he sided last year with the same GOP commissioners who oppose his current proposals on the issue of effective competition for cable operators, a proposal that passed the commission by a margin of 3-2. "There was competition among video services that no longer warranted regulation against cable companies," he said. "We're now defending that decision in court… That's the same type of process I want to bring to all the other issues."

Ironically, Chairman Wheeler dismissed the notion that FCC processes need to be disrupted.