Tom O’Brien Named Weather Channel Chief

Entertainment Studios today appointed Tom O’Brien president of The Weather Channel, effective immediately. He will also hold the title of executive vice president of Allen Media Byron Allen’s parent company of Entertainment Studios and The Weather Channel.
O’Brien will oversee all television and digital operations of The Weather Channel television network and its streaming service Local Now, including content production, acquisitions, programming, advertising sales, marketing and all related corporate strategy and development.

O’Brien reports directly to Allen and will work closely with Entertainment Studios Networks President Janice Arouh.

O’Brien joins The Weather Channel with a strong operating background across broadcast, cable and digital. Most recently, he was a corporate officer of the Nexstar Media Group. Initially joining Nexstar as EVP, digital media and chief revenue officer in 2013, O’Brien was responsible for accelerating Nexstar’s transformation into a next-generation, multimedia company, expanding its digital portfolio and developing new strategies and business models to drive holistic growth across the company.

Prior to Nexstar, O’Brien worked for more than 14 years in senior leadership roles at NBCUniversal. His most recent role at NBC was as CNBC’s EVP-chief revenue officer, where he was responsible for transforming the revenue strategy to fully monetize this global, multi-platform brand, growing their digital capabilities and diversifying revenue.

O’Brien moved to CNBC from NBC’s Television Stations division where he was president-GM of the NBC flagship station, WNBC New York. Before WNBC, O’Brien was the president-GM of the NBC O&Os KXAS Dallas and WVIT Hartford, Conn.

Recognized for his work in the industry, Tom received the 2015 Technology Leadership Award from Broadcasting & Cable magazine and was named a 2014 Broadcasting & Cable Digital All-Star.

O’Brien graduated at the top of his class from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the School of Management.