ESPN dumps two announcers. And Heat awaits TV clarity. And media notes

A six-pack of media notes on a Thursday:

▪ After a couple of dozen high profile layoffs 14 months ago, ESPN dumped two familiar names on Thursday: former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III and Sunday NFL studio host Sam Ponder.

The dismissals were done for budgetary reasons, but ESPN intends to pay them for the remaining time on their contracts, according to a source. Both earned seven figure salaries and both were deemed expendable; Ponder worked essentially only during football season.

Griffin III had been a staple on ESPN’s weekday programming, appearing on First Take and other shows, and also calling college football games with Bob Wischusen.

RG3 was on ESPN’s Monday Night Football pre-game show last season, but was replaced by former Eagles center Jason Kelce earlier this year.

Ponder succeeded Chris Berman as ESPN’s Sunday NFL studio host in 2017.

ESPN has several options to replace Ponder on Sunday Countdown, with Laura Rutledge likely the best of those options. The Athletic reported that while Rutledge will be considered, the ubiquitous Mike Greenberg is the favorite for the job.

Thursday’s dismissals came 14 months after ESPN dumped a slew of prominent names for financial reasons, including Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, Suzy Kolber, Todd McShay and Jalen Rose.

▪ The Heat did not announce its local TV partner in its schedule release on Thursday.

Though the Panthers have moved their games from Bally Sports Florida to WSFL-Channel 39, our understanding is that the Heat would be fine with staying on Bally Sports Sun. But the Heat remains non-committal about that publicly because a lot is contingent on Diamond Sports (Bally’s parent company) reaching a global deal with the NBA, which has 14 teams that have deals with Bally regionals.

Diamond Sports has been in bankruptcy court since declaring bankruptcy in March 2023. A bankruptcy judge overseeing the case must still sign off on Amazon’s new $450 million deal with Bally, which will help keep the Bally networks operating.

NBA teams that have deals with Diamond, including the Heat, are permitted to air 10 games on over-the-air television, an arrangement that began last season. A few teams have done that, but the Heat hasn’t to this point.

The Heat and Panthers have 25 conflicts this season. So the Heat couldn’t realistically move all of its games to Channel 39 even if it wanted to.

▪ For the first time during the Jimmy Butler era, the Heat doesn’t have an ABC appearance this season. The Lakers, Boston or Golden State will appear in every one of ABC’s seven Saturday night games.

Denver, Phoenix, Philadelphia and Dallas dominate ABC’s 10-game Sunday lineup.

The Heat’s seven overall scheduled appearances on ABC/ESPN/TNT are 18th most in the league, behind the Lakers (29), Celtics (26), Warriors and Knicks (24 apiece), Dallas (23), Denver (22), Philadelphia (21), Phoenix (19), Minnesota (18), Milwaukee (17), OKC (15) and San Antonio (13); Indiana, the Clippers, Memphis and New Orleans (9 apiece) and Cleveland (8).

Brooklyn, Charlotte, Detroit, Portland, Toronto and Washington have only one combined ABC/ESPN/TNT appearance. Atlanta, Chicago and Utah have two each.

▪ Your NFL/NBA Christmas afternoon viewing options: Kansas City-Pittsburgh on Netflix at 1, opposite the second half of Spurs-Knicks on ESPN and the first half of Timberwolves-Mavericks on ABC/ESPN... Then Baltimore-Houston on Netflix at 4:30, opposite much of 76ers-Celtics on ABC/ESPN..

We’re being force-fed Warriors-Lakers on Christmas night; ABC wants LeBron James and Steph Curry even though their teams are more play-in caliber than contenders. Denver-Phoenix is the late night game on Christmas.

▪ Quick stuff part 1: New York-Boston and Minnesota-Lakers are the opening night games, Oct. 22, on TNT…

Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge will call the second game of the NFL season – Philadelphia vs. Green Bay in Brazil - on Friday night, Sept. 6. Peacock gets the game exclusively, with only stations in Philadelphia, Green Bay and Milwaukee able to air the game on TV. It won’t be on Sunday Ticket.

▪ Quick stuff part 2: Charles Barkley, to Dan Le Batard about perpetually grumpy ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins: “First of all, listen, don’t bring him up... A guy who averaged five points a game. I’m not gonna stoop to his level. You average five points a game. Shut the hell up.”...

Among 58 markets metered by Nielsen, West Palm Beach finished with the second-highest ratings for NBC’s coverage of the Olympics, behind only New Orleans. On average, 19.6 percent of TV homes in the West Palm Beach market tuned into NBC’s coverage at any time.