For customers of Cablevision Systems (News - Alert) Corp., the next time the phone rings, they may not have to get up from the couch to check the caller ID before they answer it.

 

Thanks to the latest feature enhancement for their iO TV digital cable offering, customers who also subscribe to their Optimum (News - Alert) Voice phone service will be able to view who is calling them without interrupting their television viewing.

 

The new offering, Caller ID on iO TV, is available at no extra charge to multi-product customers, and takes advantage of Cablevision's fiber optic network and advanced digital set-top boxes.

 

Information is transferred to the television screen and scrolls across the upper left hand corner of the screen for seven seconds and whether live television or recorded programming on a Cablevision DVR is being viewed. The function can also be easily disabled.

 

"iO TV customers with Optimum Voice will now immediately know who is calling just by looking at the television set," said John Trierweiler, Cablevision's senior vice president of product management in a statement to the press.

 

"Caller ID on iO TV is a meaningful enhancement that underscores Cablevision's leadership in delivering the most technologically advanced digital services to our customers, over our fully-deployed fiber optic network. Like the Web portal that Optimum Voice customers use to manage their voice service, this is just another example of the power of bundling and unique advantages available to our multi-product customers."

 

Caller ID on iO TV has already been deployed in Long Island, New Jersey and New York City, and will be available across Cablevision's entire service area by Friday, November 16.