Developing an interactive television service.

America Online said on Tuesday it will work with Hughes Electronics, Philips Electronics, and Network Computer Inc. to develop an interactive television service. The venture, AOL TV, will combine digital satellite programming from DirecTV, a unit of Hughes Electronics (GMH), with an interactive service developed by AOL. As part of the agreeement, Hughes Network Systems, a unit of General Motors, will design and build set-top receivers for the system. Philips Electronics will make AOL TV set-top boxes. And Network Computer Inc., a developer of software for set-top boxes and interactive television services, will provide the software. The partnership is the latest move by AOL to catch up with the likes of AT&T in the race to provide high-speed Internet services. Now that AT&T is poised to control the lion_s share of the US market for high-speed Internet access over cable wires, AOL is stepping up efforts to incorporate alternate high-speed technologies like DSL into its service.