Watsonville cable television subscribers will likely be kept in the dark for much of the San Jose Sharks’ season.

Charter Communications, which provides cable television in Watsonville, is not offering Comcast SportsNet California, the station on which most of the Sharks’ games will be played.

Tonight’s season opener against Colorado will be televised at 7 p.m. on Versus, but the Sharks are only scheduled to appear four times on the network.

Asked by the Register-Pajaronian to provide an explanation, Charter spokesman John Miller issued the following written statement.

“Earlier this year, Comcast Sports Net-Bay Area (CSNBA) created a second channel — Comcast Sports California (CSNCA), and subsequently moved Oakland A’s and San Jose Sharks games to that channel. Charter likes to please our customers who are sports fans, and we would like to provide this channel to those sports fans who are interested in the programming on CSNCA, however thus far, we have not been able to negotiate a reasonable agreement with Comcast Sports. We will continue to discuss an agreement with them that is in the best interest of all our customers.”

Larry Eldridge, vice president and general manager of Comcast SportsNet California, told the San Jose Mercury News that Charter having filed for bankruptcy has complicated the negotiations. Charter is the only major Bay Area cable television provider not to have the network, he said.

“Charter is the major holdout at this point,” Eldridge said. “But we’re not expecting to get the situation resolved until there’s some light at the end of the bankruptcy tunnel.”

According to the same Mercury News report, DirecTV customers likely won’t be able to see tonight’s game because the satellite provider is still in contact negotiations with Versus.



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