
Behind the Mic: Sportsnet Ousts Don Cherry; ESPN's Stephen A. Smith Cashes in on Massive Contract By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor
Friday, November 15, 2019 - 10:00 am
Print This Story
Story Highlights
Behind the Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, including new deals, departures, and assignments compiled from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, a long-time NHL broadcaster is fired, a famous name at ESPN grabs a new mega-deal, a couple of ESPN personalities are extended, and an old friend of WWE rejoins their ranks.
Hockey Night in Canada's Don Cherry has officially been fired from the program. According to the Toronto Sun, Sportsnet cut ties with the 85-year-old broadcaster after disparaging comments were made about Canadian immigrants on Coach's Corner on Nov. 9.
Sports brings people together - it unites us, not divides us. Following further discussions with Don Cherry after Saturday night's broadcast, it has been decided it is the right time for him to immediately step down, said Sportsnet president Bart Yabsley. During the broadcast, he made divisive remarks that do not represent our values or what we stand for.
Cherry was a face that appeared on Hockey Night in Canada for 33 years
According to The New York Post, Stephen A. Smith has agreed to a gargantuan contract extension to keep the popular ESPN talent at the network. The deal is worth $8 million per year, eclipsing the former record of $6.5 million held by GetUp host Mike Greenberg.
Smith will continue to be front and center on ESPN's air with his daily morning show First Take, as well as on SportsCenter and the network's NBA coverage
ESPN has reached a multi-year contract extension with SEC Nation host Laura Rutledge to enhance her multifaceted profile across ESPN networks, becoming a permanent contributor to Get Up on ESPN.
Rutledge, who joined the Get Up desk as a weekly correspondent last fall, has been a part of the show's steady rise over the past year. Get Up continues its monthly streak of growth in October, now standing at eight straight, thanks to an increase of 5%. Get Up leads cable from 8- 10 a.m. ET among men 18-34 and 18-49.
As part of her new deal, Rutledge will remain the host of SEC Nation on SEC Network, currently in her third straight season in the anchor chair and fourth football season with the show overall. She will also continue her presence across a number of high-profile network studio shows and programming, including appearances anchoring SportsCenter, hosting College Football Live and reporting from the College Football Playoff
ESPN national correspondent Sal Paolantonio has a new multi-year agreement with ESPN that will call for the experienced reporter and host to expand his role by serving as in-booth analyst for an NFL game on ESPN Radio.
As part of the new extension, he will continue to cover the NFL for SportsCenter, Sunday NFL Countdown, NFL Live, and Fantasy Football Now, and will remain host of the long-running NFL Matchup show on Sunday mornings. In addition, he has a regular presence at NFL Draft and the owners meetings, and reports on other sports and major stories throughout the year
CM Punk, one of the most celebrated WWE Superstars of all time, joins the roster of FS1's WWE BACKSTAGE beginning next week, Tues, Nov. 19 at 11:00 PM ET/8:00 PM PT.
Phil Brooks, better known as CM Punk, joins WWE BACKSTAGE as a special contributor and analyst. He will make select appearances in-studio alongside host Renee Young and analyst Booker T.
The Best in the World joins fellow regular contributors Christian and Paige, as well as news correspondent Ryan Satin on the WWE BACKSTAGE rotation.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
21/01/2026
The Living Room Remains Central: Nielsen Highlights Growing TV Screen Dominance ...
21/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
21/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
21/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
21/01/2026
Telestream , the industry's leading provider of content lifecycle management and media workflow orchestration, and Quantum Corporation (NASDAQ: QMCO) today ...
21/01/2026
Lightware s TPN ecosystem brings a new level of predictability and structure to 10G AV-over-IP deployments, offering professional AV integrators a deterministic...
21/01/2026
Wisycom, a global leader in advanced wireless RF solutions, launches its new wideband antenna matrix, MATF, which supports RF and fiber for demanding multi-zone...
21/01/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate how it is powering scalable, future-ready live production at FOMEX 2026, taking place February 2 4 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Exhibi...
21/01/2026
BCNEXXT, the developers of the advanced playout platform Vipe, today announced that OKAST, the monetization-first OTT platform provider, is using BCNEXXT's ...
21/01/2026
Revamped design enables advanced capabilities, leading with powerful IP to HDMI conversion
Magewell, developer of innovative, high-performance video I/O and I...
21/01/2026
Jan 20th 2026, Changsha Kiloview today announced the launch of two major additions to its AV-over-IP ecosystem: the AVX24-4 Media HUB and KiloLink Station, ma...
21/01/2026
Latest version of enterprise-class Buttons brings simple, coherent control to more than 700 professional devices and applications
Bitfocus, the specialist in ...
21/01/2026
Clear-Com is pleased to announce the appointment of Kari Eythorsson as the new Regional Sales Manager (RSM) for Southeast Asia & Australia, based in Singapore,...
21/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
21/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
21/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
21/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
21/01/2026
Back to All News
What's Next on Netflix Korea: Every Emotion, One Bold 2026 Slate
Entertainment
21 January 2026
GlobalSouth Korea
Link copied to clipbo...
21/01/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Presents Its Italian 2026 Slate: The Year of the Stars
(Photo credit: Virginia Bettoja / Netflix)
Entertainment
21 January 2026
Gl...
21/01/2026
Fox Corporation Executives to Discuss Second Quarter Fiscal 2026 Financial Resul...
21/01/2026
Baselight v7 brings colourists and post-houses smarter mattes, faster workflows and deeper control
FilmLight, known for its detailed colour toolset and longsta...
21/01/2026
RT News is pleased to announce the appointment of Jackie Fox as its new Washington Correspondent. Jackie is a multimedia journalist with RT News and has repor...
21/01/2026
From skilled trades to startups, AI's rapid expansion is the beginning of th...
20/01/2026
SVG Sit-Down: BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on the Future of Cloud, Remote, Softwar...
20/01/2026
From architecture to reality: What CBC's Milano Cortina 2026 workflows tell ...
20/01/2026
Milano Cortina 2026: Making the Winter Olympics and Paralympics workflow work fo...
20/01/2026
Countdown to Milano Cortina 2026: SVG Launches SportsTechLive Blog in Lead-up to...
20/01/2026
Grand finale: Rally Saudi Arabia pushes WRC to make the most of cameras and dron...
20/01/2026
State of Change: What's Happening in the Remote-Production Business?NEP Group, Game Creek Video, Dome Productions, Mobile TV Group, Program Productions exec...
20/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: A Look Back at SVG's Complete CoverageGo behind the scenes with ESPN, Game Creek Video, Van Wagner, and the champion Indiana...
20/01/2026
The Gotham, Film Independent, and Creators Coalition on AI Join Alliance
by Michelle Satter, Founding Senior Director, Sundance Institute's Artist Programs...
20/01/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
20/01/2026
December, the first month of winter and the holiday season, has traditionally encouraged families to spend time together in front of the television. During this...
20/01/2026
During December, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico settled at 24.3%, an increase of 0.1 share points from the previous month.
Disclaimer: YUMI TV,...
20/01/2026
Christmas Day is Most-Streamed Day Ever with 55 Billion Viewing Minutes, led by...
20/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/01/2026
Disguise and ASB GlassFloor today announced a strategic partnership that turns the arena floor into a fully customizable interactive digital surface. This will ...
20/01/2026
Last summer, ITV celebrated the tenth anniversary of its popular reality dating show, Love Island. To ramp up the excitement of series 12 (launched in the UK on...
20/01/2026
Berklee's Mark Ethier Named One of SPIN's Most Influential People in Mus...
20/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/01/2026
Emergent, a provider of AI-powered media production solutions, today announced its presence at ISE 2026 in Barcelona, taking place February 3 6, where it will u...
20/01/2026
News Corp to Report Fiscal 2026 Second Quarter Earnings
New York, NY (January 20, 2026) - News Corp will release its second quarter Fiscal 2026 results on Thur...
20/01/2026
Back to All News
Netflix and MAPPA Strengthens Strategic Partnership, Aiming to...
20/01/2026
Back to All News
What We Watched the Second Half of 2025
Entertainment
20 January 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Download all assets
Today, we rele...
20/01/2026
Back to All News
Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery Amend Agreement to All-Cash Transaction
Business
20 January 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
All-C...