Obama set to pick FCC chair

President-elect Obama intends to nominate Julius Genachowski, an adviser on technology issues and a longtime friend, to become the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, advisers to Obama said.

Genachowski, 46, was a major fundraiser for the Obama campaign and played a leading role in the campaign's highly successful online strategy. He remains close with Obama — both men went to Columbia and to Harvard Law School, and they both served together on the Harvard Law Review. They also were basketball buddies.

During the campaign, Genachowski shaped many of Obama's telecommunications policies. He advocated an open Internet in the debate over so-called net neutrality, and media-ownership rules that promoted a diversity of voices on the airwaves.

People involved in the transition said that Genachowski was a top candidate for both the chairmanship and a new White House position overseeing technology issues that has not yet been fully defined.

If confirmed, one of his first challenges at the commission will be the conversion to digital television. The Obama transition team has asked Congress to delay the conversion, set for Feb. 17, because millions of viewers have been unable to obtain coupons to pay for converter boxes that would enable their sets to receive signals once broadcasters lose their analog signal.