Obama nominates former lobbyist, hall-of-famer Wheeler to head FCC

The Federal Communications Commission has a new chairman, Tom Wheeler. If confirmed by the Senate, he’ll replace Julius Genachowski, who resigned in March. Wheeler is a venture capitalist and with a tech-startup background — and he also has a few other unique credentials:

“Tom is the only member of both the cable television and the wireless industry hall[s] of fame, so he’s like the Jim Brown of telecom,” said President Obama on Wednesday.

Wheeler is also a former lobbyist for the telecommunications industry. Some consumer groups worry he would steer the FCC toward more large mergers and less regulation of wireless and cable providers. They’re also concerned he he won’t push back on the use of data caps.