WASHINGTON — President Bush has chosen Kevin Martin, a member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to succeed the panel's outgoing chairman, Michael Powell, the White House announced yesterday.

Martin, 38, is one of the FCC's three Republican commissioners and has been considered the front-runner to head the agency, which is the government's chief regulator of the media and telecommunications industries.

Martin, a former University of North Carolina student-body president and Harvard Law School graduate, was appointed to the FCC in 2001. He has close ties to the White House. He worked as deputy general counsel on Bush's first campaign and then was an economic adviser to the president before being named to the FCC.

His wife, Catherine, is a special assistant to the president on economic policy and has worked as an adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Gene Kimmelman, senior policy director at Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, has criticized the FCC as being too pro-business under Powell. Martin and Powell have a "similar set of values, which are not always in tune with consumer interests," Kimmelman said.

Martin is more pragmatic and may be more open to consumer concerns, Kimmelman said.

By picking a sitting commissioner, Bush avoids a potentially lengthy Senate confirmation process. However, he still must fill the vacancy created by Powell's departure, a position that requires Senate approval. Until that happens, the commission will have two Republicans and two Democrats.

Martin takes over at a time the Internet is reshaping telecommunications. Internet-based phone service, an option growing in popularity as technology improves, is among the emerging issues facing Martin and the FCC.

Other tough topics the FCC likely will have to confront soon are whether to approve a spate of phone-industry megamergers and reworking media-ownership rules that were thrown out by the courts.

Edward Fritts, president of the National Association of Broadcasters, hailed Martin as someone with "a deep understanding and appreciation for the value of local broadcasting."

Martin has supported the FCC's crackdown on indecency. Fines for indecent programming exceeded $7.7 million last year, compared with $48,000 in 2001.

Martin and FCC member Michael Copps, a Democrat, frequently dissented in part from indecency fines issued in the past year, saying they were not tough enough, occasionally calling for license-revocation hearings.

The 30-year-old prohibition on one company owning a newspaper and television station in the same city also likely will be a focus during Martin's tenure. He was the strongest proponent of lifting the "cross-ownership" ban, which was part of the proposed media-ownership rules passed by the FCC in 2003 and later thrown out by a federal court. The court did not rule on the merits of the new rules but said the FCC had not done an adequate job justifying why it crafted them.

One of the most vocal opponents of the rules was Frank Blethen, chief executive of The Seattle Times Co., who testified in Congress against the FCC's plans.

The FCC's research on the ban found that in the few cities where cross-ownership has been allowed, the quality and quantity of local news has increased, although opponents say it can lead to less diversity of views.

Martin, a former lawyer with telecom powerhouse Wiley, Rein & Fielding, likely would work to lift the ban.

Material from The Seattle Times archives is included in this report.