Comcast will offer TV-plus-Skype, home security service for Spokane in 2012
![[Schaben, Allen J. -- B581718841Z.1 HACIENDA HEIGHTS, CA - NOVEMBER, 28, 2011: Detail of an IntelligentHome home security system at a Hacienda Heights home. Cable companies, facing more competition for video services, are finding new businesses to get into to keep customers including home security. IntelligentHome is Time Warner Cables new home management system that provides home security, comfort, control, automation and energy management. Customers can remotely access and control their system from anywhere they are through the IntelligentHome iPhone/iPad application. ( Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)] *** [] (Los Angeles Times)](https://thumb.spokesman.com/gpdw1IsoNll0eKTHZzFwrqiqF2k=/810x0/media.spokesman.com/photos/2011/12/07/66534442.jpg)
Comcast Corp., the largest cable company in Washington and the U.S., plans to announce new services for Spokane and Washington state broadband customers next year.
Those are a Skype TV service and a home security over broadband service. The Skype plan will let users with modern TVs use the interactive platform for video conferencing and phone calls. Skype, of course, can be used as a simple IM chat service as well.
No price plan has been announced and no announced start date has been set.
The home security service has been going through some early testing, including in parts of Portland. For a story on that test, here's an Oregonian report.
For a nice overview of how Comcast and Time Warner and other companies are diving into home security, here's a solid story from the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-cable-home-security-20111206,0,3074487.story
The home security option will require some investment in equipment or at least using an upgraded version of the Xfinity app. The monthly cost, apart from startup fees and equipment costs, will run aboug $40 a month, according to a Comcast press sheet.