Chairman Wheeler Speaks Out

A Q&A with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler.

He has been making some news over the past few weeks, outlining an agency agenda for ensuring broadband speeds keep up with what he says are the table stakes in the 21st century, taking aim at sports-blackout rules that prevent cable operators from importing games during home-team broadcast blackouts, and more. Chairman Wheeler has also been facing pushback on his network-neutrality proposal from Web activists, though he says such back and forth is the “beauty” of the Internet. He has also strongly defended the need to pre-empt state laws that limit municipal broadband networks.