The TV as media central

BURLINGTON -- Midway through a "Star Trek" re run, the phone rang. The crew continued chatting with aliens as a box appeared below them on the screen with a picture of the caller and the caller's phone number.

When a text message popped up -- "Meet me at 10" -- the reply took a few clicks on the remote control: "Call u later." And then an Internet feed appeared on the screen with breaking entertainment news about David Bowie.

For years, technology prognosticators have been looking forward to convergence -- the day when content flows as seamlessly among television, PC, and phones as it does at the headquarters of local technology company Integra5 Inc.

But in most households today, the only evidence of such integration is charges combined into a single bill, and most talk of convergence focuses on turning the cellphone into a universal device for watching movies or remotely tapping into the home network. Integra5's solution focuses on a different screen: the television and transforming the living room sofa into a communications command center.

"Most people have forgotten about the TV," said Integra5 chief executive Meredith Flynn- Ripley . "Everyone runs to talking about video service to the mobile device, . . . but TV caller ID is the poster child for converged services."

Integra5 offers providers a chance to turn a "triple play" of cable, Internet, and phone, into something more compelling than one big bill -- and to sell customers on the idea with a device already in heavy use in the average household.

"It starts today with TV caller ID, then you add text messaging. Then you add the ability to thumb through and access voicemail on TV without having to go and dial 16 buttons. TV is a natural medium for management of information because it's visual," said James McQuivey , an analyst at Forrester Research. "The average American adult watches four hours of TV a day -- they are already in front of their screen."

Integra5 already provides TV caller ID to a dozen mid-sized providers across the country that offer service to about a million homes. Other types of messaging to both the PC and TV are in trials or due out by 2008.

But these aren't products that individuals can pick up at the store and install themselves. Customers won't see such services until their cable or phone providers deploy them. The Integra5 platform can be installed at a provider's central office without rolling out trucks and replacing set-top boxes, and is most likely to be popular among traditional cable companies, McQuivey said.

Beyond mere communication, the company envisions its platform enabling truly interactive television one day.

People might see a pizza ad with a special offer on TV, hit "A" on their remote, and then wait for their phone to ring. It would be the pizza place waiting to take the order.

"The type of solution they're offering is a good one and is becoming more and more needed in the marketplace," said Matt Davis , analyst at IDC Corp. "The thing I like about companies like Integra5 is that you don't really have to wait" to integrate every aspect of the network.

There are some obvious drawbacks to TV caller ID. Embarrassing text messages might pop up when mom and dad are watching the news. People might not want their incoming calls to be seen by everyone sitting around watching the sports game.

But a 2006 survey by IDC found that more than half of 2002 respondents expressed interest in the service, and 15 percent said they would pay $5 a month or more extra for the service. TV Caller ID ranked as the fifth most popular service people were willing to pay extra for among 27 examples of "next-generation applications."

Already, people use Integra5's TV Caller ID, and the company says PC Caller ID, text message to TV, and Internet news feed on TV are in trials or in the pipeline. Comporium, a South Carolina cable provider that began offering TV Caller ID three years ago, found that the service helped the company add subscribers. Hargray Communications, a cable provider in South Carolina and Georgia, offers Caller ID on TV as an incentive to bundle.

"It's been talked about so long, but very few have executed on it because it isn't as trivial as it seems," Flynn-Ripley said. "Smaller operators are more nimble."

Comcast and Verizon both said that TV Caller ID was on the road map for 2008 and stressed that convergence was already beginning to show up.

For instance, Comcast allows customers who subscribe to their bundles to receive e-mail when they get voicemail on their home phones. They plan to launch a Web-based communications center for messaging. Verizon allows people to move content between screens -- download a movie on one TV and watch it on another, or easily view photos stored on a computer on the TV.

Still, there's more to come.

"The difference between one bill and integrated service is that we're still pretty far from that," Davis said. But TV Caller ID "really is something people want and service providers are actually deploying -- one of the services that's not pie in the sky."

Carolyn Y. Johnson can be reached at cjohnson@globe.com.