EchoStar Communications Corp., the Englewood, Colo.-based satellite television service provider that operates the national DISH Network, has bought 22 acres of land on the West Plains for a planned uplink center here.


The property is located along Hallett Road, just east of the Interstate 90-Medical Lake interchange.


An uplink center gathers and processes television programming signals and sends them to a satellite, says Steve Caulk, an EchoStar spokesman. The signals then are transmitted to customers homes from the satellite.


Marc Lumpkin, another EchoStar spokesman, says the center here will include two large dish antennas aimed at the southern sky and will employ up to 25 people who will provide round-the-clock monitoring of the satellite transmissions. The increased capacity will allow the company to provide customers throughout its system with more channels.


EchoStar hasnt decided when it might build an uplink center here, Lumpkin says. Also, he declines to disclose the cost involved in developing such a facility.


Caulk says EchoStar chose the Spokane area as a site for such a center because of its distance from the companys other uplink centers.


Its good to have the uplinks geographically dispersed to avoid interference, he says.


The company currently operates major uplink centers in Cheyenne, Wyo., and the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert, Ariz., as well as a small one in New Jersey.


Aside from the planned Spokane operation, EchoStar doesnt have immediate plans for additional uplink centers elsewhere in the U.S., he says.


Caulk declines to say how much EchoStar paid for the West Plains land.


Jim Watson, of Kiemle & Hagood Co., handled the transaction.


EchoStar has about 15,000 employees nationwide and provides satellite television service to about 10 million customers throughout the U.S., Caulk says. Through its service, the company offers hundreds of television channels, as well as local channels in a customers vicinity.