On Thursday, Kevin Martin, a Republican who chaired the U. S. Federal Communications Commission for four years informed that when the new administration would take over, he would leave the agency.

Following this, Martin will become a fellow at the Aspen Institute in Washington, a conservative think tank. Tuesday, the day when U. S. President-elect Barack Obama will be sworn in is when Martin will bid adieu to the agency.

For the time being, when he will leave, the normally five member commission will have one Republican and two Democrats, since lawmakers have got a long list of new appointments to confirm.

The Democratic sources have informed, "Obama is expected to name technology executive Julius Genachowski, a former FCC staffer, to the top FCC spot."

Though Martin could have stayed on as a regular member of the FCC, however, the power of the chairman is much more than that of other commissioners, setting the agenda and controlling a large staff.

The worth-noticing steps taken by Martin include attempts to get cable television companies to sell channels separately instead of requiring consumers to buy big packages of programming.

Martin gave the most profitable spectrum ever to the FCC in 2008, raising $19.6 billion from airwaves won mainly by AT&T Inc (T. N) and Verizon Communications (VZ. N).