Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Julius Genachowski, a technology executive and former Federal Communications Commission official who advised Barack Obama’s campaign, is the president-elect’s choice to lead the agency, a Democratic official said.

As head of the body that regulates telephone, cable and broadcast companies, Genachowski, 46, would play a decisive role in issues as varied as spectrum policy, broadcast indecency and telephone rates.

He also will deal with 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.

“The first major challenge he will face is minimizing the number of TVs that lose signal after the digital TV transition,” Chris Murray, Washington-based senior counsel for Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, said in an e-mailed statement.

The digital TV issue may prompt Congress to move Genachowski’s nomination quickly, perhaps within weeks rather than months, Andrew Lipman, a Washington-based partner in the media, telecommunications and technology practice at Bingham McCutchen LLP, said in an interview.

Expanding Access

Genachowski is likely to support expanding access to high- speed Internet and promoting diversity in media ownership, Rebecca Arbogast and David Kaut, analysts at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in Washington, said in a note today.

The selection “is a great boost” for efforts to expand high-speed Internet, Tom Tauke, an executive vice president at Verizon Communications Inc., said in an e-mailed statement.

Genachowski may seek to help wireless companies such as Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp. compete against established wireline telephone companies such as Verizon and AT&T Inc., Arbogast and Kaut said.

“Genachowski’s role as a trusted confidant and personal friend to the president-elect portends favorably for the high- tech and communications industries,” Ed Black, president of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, said in an e- mailed statement. The Washington-based association’s members include Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Intuit Inc.

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.

Upon taking office Jan. 20, Obama is likely to name an interim FCC chairman from among the agency’s Democrats to run the FCC until Genachowski is confirmed, Lipman said.

Fund Raiser

Genachowski was chief counsel at the FCC in the 1990s. He later worked at Barry Diller’sIAC/InteractiveCorp and helped found Rock Creek Ventures, which provides funding for Web startups.

He has known Obama since they attended Harvard Law School. He raised at least $500,000 for Obama during the presidential election campaign, according to the president-elect’s Web site.

At the FCC from 1994 to 1997, Genachowski helped establish a standard for digital-TV broadcasts and wrote rules requiring broadcasters to show three hours weekly of children’s programming. He worked under Chairman Reed Hundt, who also advised the Obama campaign and transition office on telecommunications policy.

Genachowski is “an outstanding choice” who “understands the importance of open networks,” Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a Washington-based consumer group, said in an e-mailed statement.

Universal Broadband

Obama has made universal broadband a cornerstone of his plan to boost U.S. competitiveness. It is “unacceptable” that the nation ranks 15th worldwide in high-speed Internet adoption rates, he said in a Dec. 6 speech. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, has said broadband funds will be part of the economic stimulus package Congress intends to take up this month.

From 1997 through 2005, Genachowski worked as chief of business operations and general counsel at New York-based IAC/Interactive, whose units include Ticketmaster Inc., the Lending Tree mortgage-referral business and the HSN home- shopping network.

He co-founded Washington-based Rock Creek in 2005. Genachowski also is a founding board member of Common Sense Media, a San Francisco-based non-profit agency that rates shows to determine whether they’re appropriate for children.

In December, the group released a report concluding that exposure to television, video games and other media is linked to increases in sexual behavior, childhood obesity and tobacco use.

To contact the reporters on this story: Todd Shields in Washington at tshields3@bloomberg.net; Julianna Goldman in Washington at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 13, 2009 15:53 EST