Tristate cable service News 12 Networks has debuted "News 12 To Go," a mobile offering that delivers continually updated local traffic, weather and news to users over their mobile phones.

This free offering allows Cablevision customers who receive News 12 as part of their cable television service to access live audio streams of both News 12 and News 12 Traffic and Weather by dialing a phone number.

"News 12 To Go is fundamentally different from all of the other mobile products offered by cable news services from a technological standpoint and from a content standpoint," said David Kirschner, general manager at News 12 Interactive, Woodbury, NY.

Other cable news services generally share two basic features -- they have WAP-enabled pages that behave like traditional Internet pages, and they offer video download or video streaming. And many of them charge a fee to use their service.

News 12 claims that it is the only mobile news service that offers real-time traffic, weather and news audio available by dialing a regular phone number, making the service accessible not just to people with smartphones, but to all mobile devices.

New 12 To Go seeks to address the growing information needs of an audience that is more mobile and harder to engage.

The service is also aware that the mobile audience tends to be younger. So it sees embracing the mobile channel as an opportunity to expose a new audience to News 12 content.

News 12 To Go is available exclusively to Cablevision customers, providing them with access to local news and traffic and weather information.

When users call in for this service, a voice menu allows them to access both the News 12 and News 12 Traffic and Weather feed for any area they may be interested in, including Long Island, Connecticut, Westchester, the Hudson Valley (serving Rockland and Orange Counties), the Bronx, Brooklyn and New Jersey.

Cablevision subscribers can register their phones for the service by going to www.news12.com or www.optimum.net. They enter their Optimum user ID and password to receive the phone number needed to access the audio stream from their local News 12 and News 12 Traffic and Weather service.

Customers with Web-enabled phones can also access other advanced features, including text-based top stories, local weather reports and extended forecasts.

Video-enabled phones can download top stories as video files and complete forecasts can be accessed as well.

At News 12 advertisers have the opportunity to not only advertise on traditional platforms like TV and the Web but can expand their messaging onto emerging growth areas such as the interactive TV platform on channel 612 and now the mobile audience on News 12 To Go.

"Advertisers can place a 10-second audio commercial at the top of the News 12 To Go audio feed," Mr. Kirschner said. "In the future News 12 will be adding additional advertising elements including banners on the WAP pages."