Most cable outages from Irene sparked by power loss

Cable MSOs with systems impacted by Hurricane Irene said most of the customers who lost service are in areas that had power outages.

Cox said 8 percent of its customers lost service during Hurricane Irene.

"It appears the vast majority of issues are directly related to commercial power outages, and for most people, service should be restored as power comes back on in their homes," Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) said in a statement Monday morning. "However, given the severity of the winds and rain that arose from this storm, we are also seeing some more extensive damage caused by fallen trees, poles and more that will take longer to repair."

Cox Communications said Sunday that 8 percent of its residential and business customers lost service during the hurricane. The company said that a large percentage of its customers lost electricity during the storm.

"Cox technicians will assess customer needs once power is restored, will work diligently to restore services to those customers who experienced an outage. However, commercial power will first need to be restored before Cox is able to fully restore service to those customers," Cox said in a statement.

For more:
- the AP has this story

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