peter: tom wheeler is the former chair of the federal communications commission. he's been our guest on "the communicators" this week. and our guest reporter has been leah neyland of "politico." thank you both. tom: thank you, peter. thanks, leah. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. >> broadband is a force for empowerment. that's why trevor has invested billions building infrastructure, updating technology, and powering opportunity in communities big and small. charter is connecting us. >> charter communications supports c-span as a public service. along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> white house chief of staff ron klain spoke about president biden's agenda with politico playbook chief washington correspondent ryan lizza. this conversation is 20 minutes.

. >> host: tom wheeler, last time you spend a lot of time on capitol hill was during your chairmanship of the fcc. at the time net neutrality was a big issue pickett looks like it might be making a comeback. >> guest: i hope so. to be specific, peter, title ii net neutrality, which is a tradition of this country. you know, you and i talked on a previous communicators, peter, about a book i wrote called mr. lincoln's come how abraham lincoln used the telegraph to win the civil war. in a specific telegraph act of 1860, which was the federal funding of the wire across the country, the congress wrote that there needed to be first come first serve nondiscriminatory access to this critical pathway. it was the same concept that was then applied to the telephone company. first-come first-served, nondiscriminatory access. and what net neutrality does is to say the same thing about broadband internet pathways. first-come first-served, nondiscriminatory access. that's how economies grow rather than establishing gatekeepers back into okay, i'm going to rule who gets on this and what the terms of g

peter: tom wheeler has served as president and c.e.o. a telephone industry association. the f.c.c. and several other private investment firms as well. we have spent a bit of time in our conversation talking about this potential new regulatory paradime. when it comes to the media, the f.c.c. has one set of regulations, the broadcast industry has one and the social media is being looked at. aren't these all publishers and media sources? does it make sense to separate them anymore? >> that is a good question, peter. and the reality of the way in which stutes get written is they get written to reflect the times in which they were written. so the broadcast rules go back to the 1930's. and i believe that there is a linchingage between broadcasts and online, that -- for instance, my first speech today to the national association of broadcast terse, the chairman makes a speech to the broadcasters and i said, you know, i had come out of being out of a partner in a venture capital firm thaling looked at jop line news organizations and decided not to invest for two reasons. one, and needed to

peter: and joining us this week on 'the communicators" is the former chairman, tom wheeler.

saturday on "the communicators," tom wheeler federal chair of the communications division under president obama. >> the complaint that was being made about net neutrality is that it would stifle innovation, and it would stifle investment blood, the reality is that in the period of time when the net neutrality rules were in place the internet service providers spent more on capital investments than they spent after the trump fcc removed those rules. and it was that capital investment that has allowed us to be successful now during covid when everybody is on zoom and stressing out the network. and so, the point of the matter is that what we tried to deal with was to continue this concept, this basic american concept of not having gatekeepers for crucial services , and encouraging competition among those using those networks. >> watch it saturday at 6:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> sunday night on q7a a conversation about education policy and the importance of having civil discussions when differing opinions are involved. our guest co-authored the book " a search for common ground." frederick

announcer: saturday, on the communicators, tom wheeler, the former chair of the federal communications commission during the obama administration. >> the complaint that was made during our term about net neutrality is that it would stifle innovation. it would stifle investment. but the reality is that in the period of time when the net neutrality rules were in place, the internet service providers spent more on capital investment than they spent after the trump fcc removed those rules. and it was that capital investment that has allowed us to be successful now, during covid, when everybody is on zoom and stressing out the network. the point of the matter is is that what we try to deal with was to continue -- try to to deal with west to continue this basic american concept of not handing gatekeepers to crucial services and encouraging competition among those using those networks. announcer: watch the communicators saturday at 6:30 p.m. p.m. eastern on c-span. announcer: sunday night on q&a, a conversation about education policy and the importance of having several discussions when diffe

. >> saturday, tom wheeler, former chair of the federal come in occasions -- federal communications administered. >> the complaints about net neutrality is that it would stifle innovation and it would stifle investment. the reality is that in the period of time when the net neutrality rules were in place, the internet service providers spend more on capital investment than they spent after the jump fcc removed those rules. it was that investment that has allowed us to be successful now during covid when everybody is on zoom and stressing out the network. the point of the matter, but we try to do is continue this concept, this american concept, called not having gatekeepers were crucial services and encouraging competition among those using the networks. >> watch the communicators saturday at 6:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> president biden held his first in prison cabinet meeting, that took place in the east room , to adhere to social

saturday on the communicators, tom wheeler, the former chair of the federal communications commission during the obama administration. >> the complaint that was made during our term about net neutrality as it would stifle innovation and it would stifle investment. but the reality is that in the period of time when the net neutrality rules were in place, the internet service providers spent more on capital investment than the spent after the trump fcc removed those rules. it was that capital investment that has allowed us to be successful now during covid when everybody is on zoom and stressing of the network. so the point of the matter is that what we tried to deal with was to continue to continue this a sick american concept of not having gatekeepers for crucial services and encouraging competition among those using those networks. >> watch the communicator saturday at 6:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. created by america's cable company in today, we are brought 1979. to you by these television companies who provide c-span to viewers as a pu

. >> today on "the communicators," tom wheeler. >> the complaint that was made during our term about net neutrality is that it would stifle innovation. and it would stifle investment. but the reality is that in the period of time when the net neutrality rules were in place, the internet service providers spent more on capital investment than they spent after the trump fcc removed those rules. and it was that i investment that has allowed us to be successful now, during covid, when everybody is on zoom and stressing out the network. the point of the matter is that what we tried to deal with was to continue this concept, this basic american concept of not having gatekeepers for crucial services and encouraging competition among those using those networks. >> watch "the communicators" today on c-span. >> the labor department reports the economy created 900,000 new jobs in march. and unemployment fell to 6%. at the white house, president biden reacted to the news, talked about his infrastructure plan, and the administration's coronavirus response. pres. biden: before i start, i hope you

saturday on the communicators, tom wheeler, former chair of the federal communications commission during the obama administration. >> the complaint that was made about net neutrality is that it would stifle innovation. and it would stifle investment. but the reality is in the period of time when net neutrality rules were in place the internet service providers spend more on capital investment that they spent -- than they spent after the trump administration to remove those rules. it was that capital investment that allowed us to be successful now during covid when everybody is on zoom and stressing out the network. so the point of the matter is, what we tried to deal with was to continue this concept, this basic american concept of not having gatekeepers for crucial services and encouraging competition among those using those networks. announcer: what's the communicators saturday at 6:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. announcer: representatives from ups and the u.s. chamber of commerce anticipate in discussion on covid-19 and supply chain demands. meredith broadbent, senior advisor at the cente

be back saturday on the communicators tom wheeler former chair of the federal communications commission during the obama administration. >> the complaint that was made during our time would stifle investments. put but the reality is in the period of time when that net neutrality rules are in place the internet more on capitol investment than they spent after the trump scc remove those rules. and it was that capitol investment that has allowed us to be successful now during cold it when everybody is on zoom and stressing out the network. and so the point of the matter is, what we tried to deal with, was to continue this concept this basic american concept of both not having gatekeepers for crucial services and encouraging competition among those using those networks. >> watch the communicators saturday 6:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. student listen to c-span's podcast the weekly, this week wall street journal columnist kimberly trostle on the filibusters future. and that long-term ramifications of defying senate rules will majority control changes sides. >> democrats right now are thinking

. ♪ >> saturday on "the communicators, tom wheeler, the former chair of the federal communications administration of the obama administration. >> the complaint made during our term of net neutrality is it would stifle innovation and it would stifle investment. but the reality is that, in the period of time when the net rules were in place, the internet service providers spent more on capital investment than they spent after the trump fcc removed those rules. and it was that capital investment that has allowed us to be successful now, during covid, when everybody is on zoom and stressing out the network. and so the point of the matter is that what we tried to deal with was to continue this concept, this basic american concept of not having gatekeepers for crucial services and encouraging competition among those using those networks . watch "the communicators" saturday at 6:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government, created by america's cable to vision -- television companies. today, we are brought to you by these companies that provide c-span to viewers as a public