Syracuse, N.Y. — Charter Communications says it is combining its Spectrum Sports group with its news team to enhance its coverage of local sports.
A Charter spokesperson said in a statement to Syracuse.com that the change will, among other things, mean Spectrum will carry “marquee” high school football games on Friday nights throughout the season on its cable television networks.
Spectrum will continue to cover Syracuse University athletics and will “elevate the depth and breadth of our local sports news coverage,” the spokesperson said.
The statement made no mention of coverage of the Syracuse Chiefs, the Washington Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate.
Chiefs General Manager Jason Smorol said the team currently has no agreement with Spectrum for the carrying of any of its games this year.
“We’re just working through it,” Smorol said. “Right now, we’re not at a point where we’re going to be on TV. I think just with the transition, going from Time Warner to Spectrum, I think they’re just working though some things internally. We’ll see where it goes from there.”
The Charter spokesperson declined to say whether the merger of the sports and news staffs will mean layoffs.
The company also hinted in its statement that it will be making more local sports programming available on mobile devices.
“We plan to place additional local sports programming on an authenticated digital platform available exclusively to Spectrum subscribers,” the company said. “Our goal with this platform is to be able to better reach our viewers, no matter where they are when a game is on. We will also continue to offer the games on demand.”
Charter completed its purchase of Time Warner Cable in May 2016 for approximately $60 million. Its acquisition of Time Warner Cable, along with Bright House Networks at the same time, made Charter the second-largest cable operator in the country.
Lindsay Kramer contributed to this story.
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