President Clinton said Wednesday he would nominate Federal Communications Commission general counsel William Kennard to replace Reed Hundt as FCC chairman.
Kennard, who had been nominated to fill a Democratic slot on the five-member panel, will be the agency’s first black chairman, if confirmed by the Senate.
Kennard would take on several controversial issues. They include revamping the system for subsidizing rural phone service, determining what broadcasters’ public interest responsibilities should be in exchange for free digital TV licenses, and evaluating changes in FCC rules to encourage local phone competition.
Since he went to work at the commission in 1993, the 40-year-old Kennard has helped improve the agency’s won-loss record in the courts by about 30 percent.
Kennard, although well-liked on Capitol Hill, faces questioning during hearings on FCC rules for carrying out last year’s telecommunications deregulation law.
