BLANK SCREEN

Thousands Miss NFC Title Game in Bay Area After Gunman Shoots TV Cables

Between 15,000 and 20,000 customers lost service in Oakland hours before the Niners’ big game.

As many as 20,000 Oakland residents missed out on watching the San Francisco 49ers take on the Los Angeles Rams in Sunday’s NFC title game because a gunman fired a dozen rounds into the air and severed a bunch of Comcast fiber-optic TV cables. NBC Bay Area reported that between 15,000 and 20,000 customers lost service early Sunday morning and Comcast was still working to fix the problem late into the night. Oakland police told the network that a gunman fired into the air in the early hours of Sunday, and NBC producer Eric Rich posted a pic of the cables that were peppered with bullet holes. Joan Hammel, senior director of public relations for Comcast California, said in a statement: “Certainly this circumstance on Game Day could not be any more distressing to us and our customers... We are working as quickly as possible to get it restored.” To make matters worse for people in Oakland, their beloved 49ers went on to lose 17-20 to the Rams to go to the Super Bowl.