The FCC’s chairman insists he’s a ‘happy Comcast subscriber’

Many Americans rely on their home Internet and TV service for work and entertainment. And the nation's top cable and telecom regulator is no exception; he needs residential connectivity just like the rest of us. So which company gets to claim Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, as its rate-paying customer? "I am a happy Comcast subscriber in Washington, DC," Chairman Wheeler told an audience full of cable executives at an annual industry trade show. "Experience good? Satisfied with your service?" pressed C-SPAN anchor Peter Slen. "I said I'm a happy customer," Chairman Wheeler repeated. (He may be one of the few; Comcast tends to rank near the bottom of customer-satisfaction surveys.) But just because Wheeler, a former top lobbyist for the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, picked the nation's biggest cable provider for his home connection, that doesn't mean he's gone easy on the industry. From controversial rules on net neutrality to a fight that's heating up on the future of TV set-top boxes, Wheeler has poked and prodded his former colleagues in the form of new regulations and proposals aimed at forcing them to compete with newer rivals.