Life is but a stream(ing news service) for Tom Llamas…
The 41-year-old Cuban American broadcast journalist, a popular former ABC News anchor, has joined NBC News as a primetime anchor for its NBC News Now live-streaming service.
Llamas will work as a senior national correspondent and will also contribute reporting to the network’s flagship shows and breaking news and special events coverage.
The launch of his new show marks the first evening newscast for NBC News Now, which will face off against, among other competitors, a similar program anchored by Linsey Davis that is already running at ABC News — and which recently expanded its hours. He will start May 3.
“Tom brings with him more than two decades of experience tenaciously covering the news across multiple platforms and for many different audiences,” said Noah Oppenheim, president of NBC News, in a prepared statement. “Our viewers expect us to bring them smart and trustworthy journalism, wherever they are, and we’re thrilled that Tom will be bringing his expertise and passion to NBC News, NBC News Now and beyond.”
Llamas had been working as a senior anchor at ABC News, leading its weekend World News Tonight broadcast and working as its chief national affairs correspondent. He also served as a breaking-news anchor for ABC News Live, that company’s live-streaming service. In January, however, he abruptly left the Walt Disney-backed news division, and the identity of his next employer had been one of the news industry’s worst-kept secrets.
Llamas began his reporting career with NBC News in 2000, serving first with the specials unit at NBC News and then as a political campaign reporter for MSNBC. He also worked at NBC Owned Stations as an investigative reporter and anchor at WNBC in New York and as a reporter for WTVJ in Miami.
His new assignment illustrates the new focus traditional TV-news outlets are placing on streaming video. NBC News launched NBC News Now in May of 2019 and in recent months has started to expand the live hours it offers as well as the personnel assigned to them.