Vandals sever a fiber line of Time Warner Cable

About 40,000 Time Warner Cable Inc. customers in Costa Mesa and Claremont lost access to about 40 channels for several hours Tuesday when vandals cut a fiber-optic line carrying the signals, the company said.

The affected channels included feeds from affiliates of broadcast networks.

The channels went out at about 4:45 p.m., a spokeswoman said.

Time Warner’s high-speed Internet and phone service were not affected. The cable operator said it was working with police regarding a spate of vandalism experienced by the company in recent months.

-- James S. Granelli