Cable Vandals Knock Lakers Off Air

Vandals apparently prevented subscribers of Century Cable in the western part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area from watching the final three quarters of Tuesday night’s National Basketball Assn. playoff game between the Lakers and the Boston Celtics.

Bill Rosenthal, Century’s vice president in charge of corporate affairs, said vandals broke into two different secured areas and mutilated cable, interrupting service from 7:08 p.m. until 2 a.m.

“It’s happened before, and it’s always during a major sporting event,” Rosenthal said, adding that vandals last struck on the night of the NCAA basketball final.

Nearly 100,000 homes were affected Tuesday night. The company, which was offering a $25,000 reward, is now offering $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of the vandals. A hot-line number has been assigned: (213) 312-8401.

Century Cable, formerly Group W, is involved in labor negotiations with the Communication Workers of America. Rosenthal said union officials deny that the union is responsible for the vandalism.

Rosenthal said: “Whoever the vandals are, they know what they’re doing. It’s reached an intolerable level.”