Julius Genachowski to be named next FCC Chairman

According to the Washington Post, Julius Genachowski will be named the next FCC Chairman over the next few days.

A spokesperson yesterday for the transition team declined to confirm Genachowski's nomination. But one source close to the transition said an announcement will probably be officially made in the next few days. Two sources close to the staff of key members of the House of Representatives said Obama's transition team called Democratic lawmakers and their aides yesterday to tell them of the nomination.

Julius served as Chief Counsel to Reed Hundt during the Clinton years. Julius is tech savvy.

He is now a founder of a Washington, D.C.-based venture firm, called LaunchBox Digital, which has invested in a plethora of unusually trendy Web 2.0 companies.

One of its investments, the social news aggregation service Socialmedian, was recently acquired by the German-based business networking site Xing for $7.5 million.

And Genachowski is also a co-founder and managing director of Rock Creek Ventures, another venture firm, and a special advisor at General Atlantic.

Perhaps most notably, he went to law school with President-Elect Barack Obama.

Thus, Genachowski worked the tech sector tirelessly for his election, along with organizing the campaign’s successful social networking and online fundraising campaign.

The biggest on coming issue the FCC needs to deal with is the national switch to digital television, when major stations must stop sending traditional analog signals. Congress set the transition for Feb. 17. The Obama transition team has asked lawmakers to delay the change, citing confusion among consumers and a funding shortfall in the program subsidizing digital equipment some viewers will need.

Senate confirmation would be required before Genachowski can follow Republican Kevin Martin as FCC chairman. Martin, who hasn’t disclosed his plans, can stay on as a commission member until his term expires in 2011.

Another, remote candidate (and our choice) for the FCC Chairman seat is Blair Levin.

Source - Washington Post, Bloomberg, AllThingsD Online