On October 24, the president of KHQ Incorporated and Cowles Montana Media successfully reached a new retransmission agreement with DirecTV.
Now, she’s in the news again, as she’s been appointed, along with the president of Lockwood Broadcasting, to the NAB Television Board of Directors.
Cowles and KHQ leader Patricia McRae joins Lockwood head Dave Hanna as new TV board members.
The appointments came from Board Chair Emily Barr, who leads Graham Media Group.
McRae joined Cowles and KHQ-6 in Spokane in 1993 as News Director and was named President in 2008. In this role, she oversees the company’s television markets across Eastern Washington and five markets across Montana, as well as a regional sports network serving local teams from Washington, Idaho and Montana.
This role thrust McRae into the spotlight in early September, when the lack of a retransmission consent agreement with DirecTV led to the “blackout” — by law — of her company’s stations.
Seven weeks later, on October 24, a new deal was reached, ending the impasse and restoring the Cowles channels to DirecTV lineups in the impacted markets.
“We’re obviously pleased to have this new, multi-year agreement in place,” McRae said. “This means we can continue to serve our local communities on DirecTV with the best local news and network programming.”
McRae has held several leadership positions in the broadcast industry, including her current role as vice chair for the FOX Board of Governors and on the FOX News Advisory committee. She is also a past chair for the Washington State Broadcasters Association and served on the NAB Small Market Round Table Committee.
Lockwood President Hanna has served in the role since 1992, after forming the company with owner James L. Lockwood Jr. The company initially acquired low-power TV stations to distribute programming from UPN and The WB. Lockwood currently owns and operates nine stations.
In his position with Lockwood, Hanna is responsible for all mergers and acquisitions of the group and oversees the general management team based in Richmond.
Hanna was a member of the UPN Affiliate Board for four years and served as its president as for three years. He also previous served as a member of the CW Affiliate Advisory Board.
