David Kenny, Restless Soul, Joins Weather Channel as CEO

David Kenny has joined The Weather Channel Companies as CEO and chairman. In addition to running its cable and radio properties, he'll oversee Weather.com, a site whose U.S. monthly audience comScore pegs at 54 million, and mobile platforms that touch 33 million, according to internal numbers.

Kenny has made the rounds since the sale of Digitas, where he was CEO, to Publicis in 2006. For several years he served as the managing partner of the agency holding giant's Vivaki digital media hub, which he also founded. At that time Kenny was rumored to be in the running to replace global CEO Maurice Lévy, who is nearing retirement, but balked at the prospect of relocating his family to France.

Later he left Publicis to become CEO of Akamai, operator of a content and ad delivery network. After leaving that post after just a year, he was (once again, rumored) to be a contender for Yahoo's vacant corner office before that job went to Scott Thompson earlier this month.

All this experience "gives him a deep understanding of the TV and digital business, and he has the leadership experience and vision to drive global initiatives across all platforms," according to a statement from The Weather Channel's owners, a collective consisting of NBC Universal, Bain Capital, and the Blackstone Group.

Kenny replaces Mike Kelly, CEO since 2009, who is credited with advancing The Weather Channel's mobile platforms.

TWCC's web and mobile audiences compare favorably to its TV distribution, where it's traditionally strongest and today boasts 94 million cable viewers. It claims its total reach across all channels is 163 million.