Discovery’s Tom Keaveny gets global role, Caleb Weinstein exiting

Discovery Communications’ Asian boss Tom Keaveney is relocating to London to become president of international affiliate sales at the channel operator.

Although not a direct replacement, the newly created role will cover some of the responsibilities currently held by Caleb Weinstein, who TBI understands is leaving the company. As senior VP and general manager for distribution, EMEA, Weinstein oversees the rollout of Discovery channels in the region.

Keaveny will relocate from Singapore to Discovery’s London base and start in the new role on July 1. Currently president and managing director for Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, he has previously worked at all of the US-listed company’s global divisions having been senior VP, sales, at the Lat-Am division and VP of affiliate sales in Europe.

He will oversee channel deals across Discovery’s international footprint and will also assume responsibility for Discovery’s share in Eurosport.

In his new role the Discovery exec will report direct to Mark Hollinger, president and CEO of Discovery Networks International. Discovery staff were notified of the changes last week.

A Discovery spokesman said that the company is actively recruiting for a new Asia-Pacific boss and looking at internal and external candidates. It is likely the new person will be in place by July.

Weinstein is understood to have taken a senior role at another media company. He has been at Discovery since 2008 in various roles including running content sales and overseeing channel distribution in emerging markets. It is understood he will leave the company in June. He has overseen channel agreements in the EMEA region since late 2010, spearheading the roll out of the TLC network, which will launch in the UK at the end of the month.