Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp. has bought the cable TV system that serves Airway Heights and Fairchild Air Force Base from Laurel, Mont.-based Cable Montana LLC, and is upgrading that network to include services such as high-definition and on-demand programming.


When Comcast acquired the cable network earlier this month, it added nearly 1,000 customers, bringing the companys total number of customers in the Spokane area to roughly 100,000, says Kenneth Watts, Comcasts Spokane-based general manager. He declines to disclose the cost of the acquisition.


Were excited to expand in the Airway Heights area and connect them with our services in Spokane, Watts says.


Watts says the company is considering additional acquisitions, but declines to elaborate.


Comcast, which employs about 150 people in the Spokane area, currently is upgrading the fiber-optic cable network in Airway Heights and at Fairchild, and hopes to complete those upgrades by next summer, Watts says. The transition will result in minor disruptions of cable service, and the company will notify customers before those disruptions occur, he says.


Once the work is completed, Comcast will offer access to more than 300 channels, high-definition TV, high-speed Internet, digital video recording for television, and on-demand TV programming, Watts says. He declines to disclose the cost of the upgrades. He says, though, that Comcast has spent roughly $33 million on improvements to its Spokane-area cable in Spokane over the past five years.


As a result of those investments, as well as increased operating expenses, Comcast will raise its rates for customers in the Spokane area starting in January, says Walter Neary, a company spokesman. Comcast will raise its basic cable rate by $3 to $46.49 a month, and increase its limited cable rate by $1 to $15.99 a month, Neary says. It wont increase rates for its high-speed Internet service, he says.


Separately, Comcast just announced it has launched digital voice services for residents in Spokane and Spokane Valley. Digital voice is a telephone service that uses voice-over Internet protocol (VoIP) technology that runs over the companys broadband cable line. Features include Web access to voicemail and a planned online digital voice center where customers will be able to access and manage voice and e-mail messages, he says.


Digital phone service will be included on Comcast customers bills, and costs for the service start at $39.95 a month, he says.