Senator John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, pressed Wheeler about his 2011 blog post in favor of a merger of top wireless providers AT&T Inc and T-Mobile that was ultimately blocked because of concerns about competition.
"There is scarcely anything more important that comes before the commission than merger review," Wheeler said, adding that the blog was a "hypothetical speculation." He cited three factors crucial to merger review: deal-specific facts, legal mandate and precedent.
Addressing a critical issue he will have to tackle as FCC chair - decades-old rules that limit cross-ownership of different U.S. media outlets in one market - Wheeler said he understood the seriousness of the issue and was "specifically trying not to be specific." "I want to become more informed," he said.
Asked by Republican senators about attempts by Democratic lawmakers to get the FCC to press TV stations to disclose sponsors of political ads - a hot partisan issue - Wheeler said he needed and planned to study the topic to determine whether the commission should act, or has the authority to do so.
(Reporting by Alina Selyukh; Editing by Ros Krasny and Steve Orlofsky)
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