Board selects Sukhdeo to run WPBT in Miami

Dolores Sukhdeo is the new president and chief executive officer of WPBT-TV in Miami, the station’s board announced Tuesday. She replaces Rick Schneider, who takes over this month as executive vice president and chief operating officer of WETA in Arlington, Va. Sukhdeo joined the station in 1998 as v.p. for facilities services and was promoted to c.o.o. in 2003. She began her television career in 1990 in the international newsgathering division of Disney/ABC News. She also serves as president-elect of the board of the International Women’s Forum of South Florida and is chair of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Board’s Nonprofit Business Committee.

After a hard year, NBR investor brings in new management

Rick Ray considered purchasing public TV’s Nightly Business Report earlier this year but last week ended up as its new c.e.o. instead. Atalaya Capital Management, the New York venture-capital firm that ended up owning the show, was shopping it around in March, said Ray, a veteran media executive who built cable syndicator Raycom Sports. He took a look, was intrigued and spoke with Atalaya. But the timing for a deal wasn’t right at that point, Ray said; he was too busy with several other projects. “But I liked what I saw” in NBR, Ray said.

Buyer will take Nightly Business Report to ‘a new level’

WPBT sells to entrepreneur with history of legal disputes: Mykalai Kontilai, whose NBR Worldwide this month purchased Nightly Business Report, a staple of public TV carried five nights a week on 250 stations, talks about how his years as an instructional television distributor gave him a strong sense of public broadcasting values. ¶ He talks about how he’ll use that background to develop an educational outreach using the show to teach real-world financial responsibility. He talks of his plans to bring NBR to international audiences. ¶ What he doesn’t want to discuss are more than 20 lawsuits from 1999 through 2010 filed in San Diego County Superior Court against him or his companies — including five alleging breach of contract.