Trump’s New FCC Chief Is on a Mission to Radically Revise Agency’s Policies

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While outgoing Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler had presided over an activist commission, ready to act on marketplace trends that would seemingly threaten competition, Chairman Ajit Pai is convinced that the best approach is one that is largely hands-off. He has signaled a willingness to target regulations that he sees as stifling investment. Yet President Donald Trump’s populist campaign rhetoric may conflict with Chairman Pai’s laissez-faire approach, particularly when it comes to big media mergers. Pai already has said that the FCC would not weigh in on the AT&T-Time Warner combination. That would leave the Dept of Justice as the sole agency to assess the deal. But the FCC, which reviews transactions to determine if they are in the public interest, would have an easier path to block the merger than would the DOJ, which, more narrowly, weighs whether a combination conforms to antitrust law.


Trump’s New FCC Chief Is on a Mission to Radically Revise Agency’s Policies