Cable overbuilder Knology is using Integra5 Communications’ technology to deliver its first converged service, TV Caller ID, to its customers in the Southeastern U.S., including the cities of Huntsville, Montgomery, Lanett, and Valley, Ala; Augusta, Columbus and West Point, Ga; Panama City and Pinellas County, Fla; Charleston, SC; and Knoxville, Tenn.

Using the i5 Service Delivery Platform, Knology enables its customers to see the name and phone number of incoming calls displayed on the TV set, before the phone rings. Subscribers can then use their remote control to choose a menu option for how to handle the call. Knology is launching the service this month, starting with a one-month free trial, and will then charge $1.95 a month for the service.

Because Knology is deploying TV Caller ID as a fully converged service, it is also positioned to offer other converged services, said Meredith Flynn-Ripley, Executive Vice President of Marketing & Sales of Integra5.

“TV Caller ID is only the tip of the iceberg of what you can deploy,” she said. “We have a robust plarform that lets an operator build multiple products.”

Integra5’s research shows that TV Caller ID is a service for which customers will pay, creating an incremental revenue stream on top of the service bundle, Flynn-Ripley said.

“We have customer research that tells us that 78% of the people polled are willing to pay between $1 to $2 for the service,” she said. “So Knology’s price fits right in there.”

“At Knology, we pride ourselves on our advanced voice, video and data offerings, and we see innovative converged services as the logical and necessary next step to attract and keep customers,” said Mike Roddy, vice president of marketing at Knology, in a prepared statement. “The i5 SDP allowed us to quickly deploy the first of these unique triple-play services, TV Caller ID, and we look forward to adding even more advanced applications, such as Picture Caller ID, PC Caller ID, Voicemail Message Waiting and Personalized IP Content Alerts.”