Washington (DC) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman, Kevin Martin, announced yesterday his plans to resign effective the day of Obama's inauguration. Obama's team is looking to replace Martin with a former Harvard Law School classmate, Julius Genachowski, age 46. The appointment is still subject to Congressional approval.





FCC commissioners serve five-year terms. Martin's term is not set to expire until 2011. He was appointed under the Bush administration in 2001 by a five-member panel. He was named chairman in March, 2005 and in 2006 was re-appointed to the commission. His untimely resignation is a sign of the changes Obama's administration wants to bring to the FCC.



Under Martin, several "white spaces" in broadcast airwaves were redistributed to allow mobile devices and other carriers access to the airwaves. Martin was at the FCC when the 2004 "wardrobe malfunction" by Janet Jackson was broadcast on CBS. He became a proponent of regulation against indecency on television following that event. Martin's team was also responsible for the migration away from analog TV broadcasts to digital TV, which is currently scheduled to happen on February 17, 2009 - though is currently undergoing Senatorial review and could be delayed until at least June, 2009.



With Martin's resignation effective January 20, 2009, it will be the next FCC chairman's responsibility to oversee the analog to digital switch. If it is Genachowski, someone who served previously as an advisor to the FCC chairman under Clinton's presidency, it will be a leadership role which follows a trend in Washington as Genachowski will be leaving his venture capital firm, LaunchBox Digital, which he-co-founded in Washington, DC.



Genachowski served as a "bundler" for the Obama campaign, helping to raise over $500,000 in donations. Early indications are he will support Internet "net neutrality" protections, media-ownership rules which advocate diversity and an expansion of the current broadband markets in the US, according to The Wall Street Journal.