As rumors have suggested, Obama has filled one of the Republican positions at the FCC by re-nominating current Commissioner Robert McDowell to another term at the agency. McDowell was appointed to the FCC by Bush in 2006 after spending much of his career working for CLECs and overbuilders for lobbying company Comptel. With his CLEC history it was thought he'd be a little more progressive in his views, but McDowell has consistently sided with incumbents on most major issues, repeatedly beating the deregulation drum.

McDowell's greatest hits since 2006 include an editorial insisting the country has no broadband coverage issues, proclaiming the Internet would collapse if Comcast was held accountable for throttling upstream P2P traffic and lying to customers, and conflating network neutrality with the fairness doctrine for political effect.

Those hoping for an FCC made up of technologists and intellectuals instead of partisan lobbyists and lawyers aren't going to get their wish. In addition to McDowell, Democrats have pegged Mignon Clyburn as their new commissioner. Clyburn has spent much of the last decade as a South Carolina regulator, though consumer advocates are already concerned about her potentially too-friendly ties to AT&T.

Cozy relationships to incumbent operators, denial of existing rural broadband coverage issues -- it sounds like business as usual so far at the "new" FCC.