Cox customers lose TV signal in Va.

During a crucial World Series game, Cox Cable customers from Fairfax County to Fredericksburg lost their television signal for hours Wednesday night due to a disruption in the digital cable service, company officials said.

Company technicians were not sure what caused the problem across Cox's Northern Virginia service area, but customers who use digital converter boxes could not watch any high-definition channels, said Gwen Sparks, a Cox spokeswoman.

"Our technicians, working with our engineers, are still trying to identify the problem and restore service. They are working as quickly as they can. We just don't know yet," Sparks said shortly before 10 p.m. "We regret the inconvience to our customers."

Sparks said that customers who do not use a digital converter box should should have had full service. She added that customers could plug the cable line directly into their television sets, bypassing the digital converter. She could not estimate the number of customers affected by the outage.

Some customers complained not about being unable to watch the sixth game between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies, but also of not being able to reach Cox customer service for information on the outage.

"My husband is here and he's waiting to see about the World Series," said Cox customer June Thomas, who lives in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County. "I've constantly called and I'm getting the busy signal."

It was not clear when service would be restored.