With two weeks left before a potentially significant status update in the Comcast SportsNet Houston bankruptcy case, Astros owner Jim Crane said negotiations continue with carriers and potential investors in the financially strapped network and that he is, as always, hopeful of progress.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur earlier this month granted attorneys for the network an additional 30 days to submit a plan of reorganization and set a CSN Houston status conference for July 2.

In the meantime, Crane said this week the network “is in negotiations with pretty much everybody and hopeful of getting something done.”

“We’ve been in contact with everybody that’s in the game, and there’s some activity,” Crane said. “There’s been some interest from some private equity firms.”

The CSN Houston bankruptcy case, now in its ninth month, has unfolded slowly during a period of rapid changes in the television landscape. Recent developments have included Comcast’s plan to purchase Time Warner Cable, which has systems in several major Texas cities, and the proposed purchase of DirecTV by AT&T, which owns the U-verse video service.

“You’ve got two things coming down, and I think that’s going to create some tension,” Crane said. “It could be a positive for us.”

However, carriers ranging from DirecTV to Comcast and Suddenlink also must be concerned with the approaching launch of ESPN’s SEC Network.

ESPN and the Southeastern Conference reportedly are seeking monthly subscription fees of $1.30 per month in the conference footprint, which includes the entire state of Texas, at the same time that attorneys for CSN Houston are trying to fashion a reorganization plan that will lift the Astros-Rockets-Comcast network toward profitability.

CSN Houston’s rate structure remains sealed under a court order, but similar networks generally charge in excess of $4 per month for their core territory and less than a dollar in outlying areas.

Crane’s said the Astros’ recent improvement has sparked viewers’ interest in the team.

“We’ve gotten lots of calls the last couple of weeks,” he said. “People want to watch the games. We’ve got to get them on.”

There has been no movement in more than two months on the Astros’ motion to dismiss Judge Isgur’s Chapter 11 order, which was issued last February.

Also still pending in federal court is a civil lawsuit filed by Crane’s ownership group against former Astros owner Drayton McLane and Comcast, which stems from the valuation set on CSN Houston when Crane bought the team and McLane’s 46.5 percent share in CSN Houston in 2012.