Thomas S. Murphy was an American broadcast executive, and was chair and chief executive officer of Capital Cities / ABC, Inc. until 1996.

Murphy was born in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in 1945, and Harvard University with an M.B.A. in 1949. He served in the U.S. Navy, and worked at Kenyon & Eckhardt and Lever Brothers.

Together with fellow Capital Cities executive Daniel Burke, Murphy engineered the 1986 acquisition of the American Broadcasting Company in 1986 for $3.5 billion.

Murphy and Burke, who served as President and Chief Executive of ABC until 1994, are credited with increasing the profitability and efficiency of ABC.

Thomas S. Murphy was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame with Daniel B. Burke in 2008.

Murphey died May 25, 2022. He was 96.