Time Warner Adding to Its Cable Stable : Telecom: $2.2-billion purchase from Houston Industries will push its holdings close in size to industry leader TCI.

Time Warner Inc. is buying Houston Industries Inc.’s cable interests for about $2.2 billion, pushing its cable TV holdings closer in size to those of industry leader Tele-Communications Inc.

The deal announced Friday, which comprises stock and assumed debt, advances Time Warner’s efforts to assemble cable system groups large enough to justify the heavy investment in technology needed for new services such as telephones.

Houston Industries’ Kblcom division owns systems that serve about 690,000 subscribers in Orange County; San Antonio; Laredo, Tex.; the Minneapolis area, and Portland, Ore. It is the second-largest cable operator in Orange County, with about 100,000 customers.

Time Warner is also getting Kblcom’s 50% stake in Paragon Communications, a cable venture with 967,000 customers, including systems in Tampa, Fla., and New York.

The Paragon joint venture has a major operation in Torrance, which serves about 70,000 customers in five South Bay cities. Time Warner covers a number of smaller communities in the San Gabriel Valley and Canyon Country.

Time Warner is betting that telephone service will become a big revenue generator for its cable systems. Larger groups also let a cable operator stretch its marketing budget.

“These powerful cable clusters will allow Time Warner Cable to offer telephone service (and) enhanced pay-per-view, launch new program services and give advertisers access to customers with the best demographics,” said Time Warner Chairman Gerald Levin.