You probably realized that our weekly FiOS TV expansion post was nowhere to be found last week. Just an FYI: that's a direct result of Verizon not announcing a single new locale for its service. Apparently it was shoring 'em up, though, as this week a whole slew of neighborhoods are getting service. We've got eight more communities in New Jersey, yet another Bay State region, Hampton, Virginia and the very first community in Washington state to land a FiOS TV video franchise. If you're near any of these places, check out the links below for all the details. We'll see you next week -- here's to hoping your neck of the woods gets covered within the next seven days.

Read - Washington State expansion
Read - Hampton, Virginia expansion
Read - New Jersey expansion
Read - Massachusetts expansion

We're not told whether or not all 16 of the digital Sony projectors in the Southcenter 16 are 4K or not, but AMC's still pretty proud of its latest cineplex. The 2,900-seat venue houses 16 screens (obviously) which will see imagery from all digital PJs, meaning that nary a strip of film will be shipped in. Additionally, the design of the facility was made to showcase the surroundings, with a vast window in the reception area that "on a clear day, frames Mount Rainier to look like the Paramount logo." Hey, look at that -- we just found you some plans this weekend up in the Pacific Northwest.

Comcast may have just given the HD lineup in Southwestern Washington a serious boost, but that's not frightening Verizon away. The carrier has just made public its intentions to build the state's first regional video hub in Everett, which will end up being a "key component of the company's plan to deliver video programming" in the future. Thankfully, Verizon went ahead and made certain that we knew this hub wasn't being constructed for kicks and giggles -- according to David Valdez, senior vice president for the Northwest, the company is "preparing its network to offer consumers in the region FiOS TV." Regrettably, there's no timeframe given for when we can expect services to roll out, but the outfit is negotiating with a number of cities and counties in order to gain those highly sought after cable franchises as we speak.

Over a month ago, we heard that Comcast would be bringing a respectable helping of new high-def options to the Portland area, but given the carrier's history of promising and not delivering in the region, we held off on celebrating prematurely. Break out the champagne folks, as we've received numerous reports from the area that the operator has indeed delivered on the day it said would, adding in Disney Channel HD (741) , ABC Family Channel HD (739), Discovery Channel HD (707), TLC HD (738), Science HD (772), Food HD (766), Animal Planet HD (743), SciFi HD (759), CNN HD (744), AMC HD (771) and TBS HD (755) to Oregon and Southwestern Washington. Also of note, Comcast launched its AnyRoom On Demand service to all digital cable subscribers, and for those kosher with a bit of SD every now and then (crickets?), NHL Network is also landing on slot 418.

[Thanks, Brad]

Granted, we had heard earlier this month that Comcast would be dishing out Science HD, Disney HD and ABC Family HD to a plethora of markets, but this note from Seattle / Tacoma, Washington looks to be our first sign of confirmation. As of April 23rd, subscribers in the Emerald City will receive the aforementioned trio, but there's no word on if it'll pick up any others à la just about everywhere else in America (okay, so that's a stretch). Anyone else getting just these three? Drop a note in comments if so.

[Thanks, Gordon and Chet]

While Charter and Comcast have recently bolstered the high-def lineups in Yakima and Seattle, respectively, little ole Port Orchard is getting a decent helping of newcomers, too. Effective immediately, Wave Broadband customers located on the Kitsap Peninsula can kick back and feast their eyes on KONG-TV (82), The CW / KSTW (119), TBS HD (126), Travel Channel HD (139), TLC HD (142), Animal Planet HD (143), Discovery Channel HD (144) and Science Channel HD (145). Yep, eight new HD channels for Wave customers, bringing the total in the area to 27.

[Thanks, Aaron]

Great news for HD junkies in the great city of Seattle, Washington -- Comcast is getting set to add six newcomers to your lineup in just under a month. Reportedly, users are beginning to see messages on their set-top-boxes informing them that Discovery Channel HD, Animal Planet HD, TLC HD, Sci Fi HD, HGTV HD and Food Network HD will be arriving on March 4th. Ten new high-definition options in around three months? Sounds like just the thing to ease the sting of those heightened rates.

[Thanks, Gordon and Vince]

For fans of the Baltimore Orioles and / or Washington Nationals, things could be getting an awful lot clearer when you tune in to catch their games this season. After the Kansas City Royals found a way to get its games broadcast regionally in high-definition, the O's and Nats stood as the final two MLB clubs with a dedicated channel that only beamed out its games in SD. According to an e-mail reportedly forwarded from an employee of a "local cable company," MASN is indeed planning to finally ditch its pixelated ways and go HD. More specifically, the note states that customers that receive the channel will be able to catch "at least 60 MLB games in 1080i" during the 2008 season, and that those matchups would be split evenly between the Orioles and Nationals. When a MASN publicist was questioned about the apparent leak, he casually stated that the station was working with its cable and satellite operators on "providing some games in HD in 2008," but didn't go out of his way to outright confirm or deny the whispers. Sounds like positive news, but we aren't getting our hopes up (too high) quite yet.

[Image courtesy of NastyNats, thanks Tom]

Given that Seattle just received a few new HD options of its own, it's good to see Yakima getting some high-definition love, too. According to tipster Nicholas, Charter Communications has added HD flavors of The Weather Channel, TLC, FSN and Discovery Channel in the Yakima, WA region, which should give those parked in the area plenty to do if things get a bit too chilly in the coming days.

[Thanks, Nicholas M.]

Although there's been no official announcement from Comcast, it seems that subscribers in the Seattle / Tacoma region have recently been blessed with four more HD options. According to tipster Cameron, the operator informed customers via postcards that it would be adding A&E HD, History Channel HD, USA HD and National Geographic HD as of December 6th. Comically enough, Comcast also sent out a friendly letter informing users in the area of price hikes that were coming in 2008, but we suppose you've got to pay to play, eh? As for channel numbers, you can catch the aforementioned additions on 670, 671, 672 and 673, respectively.

[Thanks, Cameron]