Spectrum Blames Vandals For Thanksgiving Day Outage In Queens, Brooklyn

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Spectrum cable outage affected television, phone and internet service for customers in Brooklyn and Queens on Thanksgiving.

Spectrum said vandals struck again, cutting fiber optic cables and impacting service. It is unclear exactly how many customers were affected.

As CBS2's Marc Liverman reported, thousands of customers were forced to put their patience to the test.

"Today, what am I going to watch? Only turkey," Queens resident Albert Fattakhov said.

"It's not even on now. I can't call anyone. It's horrible," said Joseph Shimonov, of Forest Hills.

Many Queens residents started reporting the problem just after 1 a.m.

"It's annoying, of course it's annoying, because it's a holiday. Nothing's on, nothing's working. It's horrible," Fattakhov said.

For some, no TV meant no parade.

"I wanted to watch the parade. I put on Channel 2 and I can't see anything," said Shimonov.

"This is a tradition. It's a staple in New York City. You wake up, you watch the parade," Queens resident Paul Merchan said. "And we didn't get to see anything, we didn't see any of the balloons. So it was a little frustrating, definitely."

Spectrum issued a statement, saying "Our NYC network once again has been victimized by coordinate acts of vandalism. These latest criminal acts overnight have affected thousands of our customers in parts of Queens and Brooklyn, affecting TV, internet and phone services."

The company apologized for the inconvenience and offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

This is the fourth major outage caused by a slashed cable in the past few months.

Spectrum's union electrical workers have been on strike since March but have denied any involvement in the outages.

Over the summer, charges were dropped against a striking worker blamed in similar sabotage pending further investigation.

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• Marc Liverman