GILROY – Hank Provost received an unwelcomed surprise last
Saturday night as he flipped to the channel where he had become
accustomed to finding San Jose Sharks games.
That night was different.
After realizing the game was no where to be found, Provost
immediately went to the phone.
GILROY – Hank Provost received an unwelcomed surprise last Saturday night as he flipped to the channel where he had become accustomed to finding San Jose Sharks games.
That night was different.
After realizing the game was no where to be found, Provost immediately went to the phone.
“I was furious,” Provost said. “I couldn’t believe it so I immediately called Charter. I had a frank discussion about Gilroy getting three games out of 85. It’s ridiculous.”
Charter Communications, one of the cable-service providers in Gilroy, as of September serves 4,200 customers in the city, according to Charter’s government affairs manager Christy Balzer.
Provost isn’t asking for much. All he wants to do is watch the Sharks on television in the comfort of his own home.
“We support the Sharks, and to not be able to get the games is outrageous.”
However, as simple a request as it seems, Provost is among many Gilroy residents who will have to go out of their way to catch any Sharks hockey this season -at least that’s how it appears.
Comcast, which used to carry the Sharks games on CSN – a channel Charter subscribers have access to -decided to move the Sharks to a new station that became the home of the Oakland Athletics last season, Comcast SportsNet California. Charter does not have a contract with Comcast to carry that station.
“Comcast created this new station for themselves and they decided to move those games to that station,” Balzer said. “It is a contractual issue.”
Comcast SportsNet California has been around since 2004 but served customers mostly in the Sacramento area with coverage of the Sacramento Kings.
Balzer said that there have been numerous e-mails and phone calls from Gilroy residents to the Charter corporate offices alerting them of their displeasure.
“They are aware that there is a loud voice coming out of Gilroy,” Balzer said. “Rest assured that the corporate office is aware that customers in that area are not happy.”
A much larger number of about 26,000 customers are affected by the channel switch in an area that includes Gilroy, Hollister, Watsonville, Capitola and Morgan Hill.
“At the corporate level they are working on negotiations with Comcast to carry that new channel that they’ve created where the Sharks games are, but it’s a negotiation in process,” Balzer said. “Other than that there is no way for us to know how it will all get sorted out.
“We are hopeful that it will be resolved positively and that we will add that channel. But at this point we can’t commit to anything that we don’t know.”
Vice president of communications for Comcast SportsNet, Tim Fitzpatrick corroborated with Balzer and said that there are talks between Comcast SportsNet and Charter to resolve the issue and provide the Sharks’ games to viewers in the Gilroy System market who do not have access.
“We share the frustrations of fans that are unable to see the team play,” Fitzpatrick said. “We are in negotiations with Charter. There are 11 other television providers that carry the network, most of them on terms that are comparable to those being offered to Charter. We’re doing everything we can on our end to have the channel added to Charter’s lineup.
“That’s why we are in this business,” Fitzpatrick added. “Sports fans are among the most passionate viewers on television and we recognize people want to watch the Sharks. No one wants this channel fully distributed more than we do.”
Stubby’s Sports Bar and Grill bartender Janice An said there have been plenty of customers “angry and complaining” that they cannot get the Sharks games.
“We usually get a full house when the game is on, but we will probably have more now,” An said.
For now Stubby’s, which carries Comcast SportsNet California via Direct TV, may be the most convenient option for fans to catch the Sharks.
But, that option doesn’t exactly appease Provost.
“I don’t have a clue at this point how I’m going to watch the games,” he said.
