Paramount’s CBS News & Stations has named Scott Rates as its news director for the company’s Sacramento market duopoly.
Officially, Rates will take on the title of Vice President of News at KOVR (Channel 13) and sister station KMAX-TV (Channel 31), starting next Monday.
In the role, Rates will oversee editorial strategy and day-to-day newsroom operations for both stations, including staff management and content development across linear and digital platforms. Rates will report to Scott Warren, the President and General Manager of Paramount’s CBS cluster in Northern California, including the two stations in Sacramento and KPIX (Channel 5) and KPYX (Channel 44) in San Francisco.
“Scott brings deep experience as a news director and a strong understanding of the stories that matter most to communities across Northern California,” Warren said in a statement. “Having led multiple newsrooms in the region and reported in San Francisco, he combines editorial leadership with the instincts of a seasoned journalist.”
KOVR and KMAX-TV operate as part of a broader regional structure alongside KPIX, forming a unified Northern California news operation that serves audiences from the Pacific coastline through the Bay Area, Sacramento and Central Valley regions and into the Sierra Nevada. The group represents one of the largest local broadcast footprints in the country, Paramount noted in a press release.
Rates joined KPIX as a bureau reporter after working as the news director at KION (Channel 46, CBS), which shuttered its newsroom in September. KPIX produces local newscasts for KION under an agreement between Paramount and KION’s parent company News Press & Gazette.
In a statement, Rates said his experience working in newsrooms across California positions him to serve a wide range of communities throughout Northern California.
“CBS Sacramento and CBS Bay Area have a strong legacy of innovation in local news, and I look forward to working with these outstanding teams at KOVR and KMAX as we continue delivering trusted journalism that informs and connects viewers across the region,” Rates affirmed.
KOVR and KMAX-TV are in the process of building a new augmented-virtual reality news studio, following in the footsteps of KPIX, which was the first in the country to debut an AR/VR news studio nearly three years ago.
