Viacom named Tom Kane president and CEO of Viacom Television Stations Group, the company announced Friday.
Kane, who previously served a president of sales for the division, succeeds Fred Reynolds, who announced he was leaving the stations chief job in July, then reversed his decision to take the job of CFO of the new CBS Corp. (scheduled to be spun off from Viacom early next year).
Kane will now oversee operations at the group’s 40 local TV stations. In this new role, he will report directly to Viacom Co-President and Co-CEO Leslie Moonves (who will be CEO of CBS Corp).
Dennis Swanson will continue to serve as executive VP and COO of the Viacom Television Stations Group, and Anton Guitano will remain senior VP and CFO. Peter Dunn will also continue as president of Viacom Television Stations Spot Sales.
In a statement, Moonves expressed confidence in Kane’s ability to take over Reynolds’ former role, calling him “a consummate professional whose experience in local television, both as a general manager and in sales, has benefited us greatly since he joined our group two years ago.”
Before service as the division's president of sales, Kane oversaw national spot sales for 25 Viacom stations.
Prior to joining Viacom, Kane worked for seven years as president and GM of WABC New York, the flagship station of the ABC station group. He also previously served as president and GM of ABC O&O WPVI Philadelphia. Before that, Kane served in a variety of positions at WABC and worked in spot sales for the ABC network.
Kane has also worked in a variety of sales positions for companies like H.R. Television; Peters, Griffin & Woodward; and Storer Television Sales, Inc. He got his start in 1969 in the media department of Dancer, Fitzgerald & Sample.
The Viacom Television Stations Group consists of 40 stations, including 21 CBS, 16 UPN, one WB and two stations not affiliated with major networks.
