Comcast has partnered with Skype, a video-calling service that was recently purchased by Microsoft, to offer the service for TVs sometime next year.
Subscribers who rent a video kit from Comcast will be able to use their TVs to make and receive calls from other Skype users -- regardless of whether those people are also using a TV for the call. The kit will also come with a remote that has a keyboard to allow chat.
Although Skype-enabled TVs have been available since last year, this is the first time that Skype will be available to Comcast subscribers regardless of which TV they own.
Comcast hasn't yet announced what it will charge for the kit, but presumably it will be less expensive than purchasing a Skype-enabled television.
"Your television is ringing" might become a new household phrase.