AOL and Hughes Team Up on Satellite TV and Internet Services

America Online and Hughes Electronics have formed a strategic alliance to develop and market combined digital entertainment and Internet services nationwide. The deal is built to grow subscribers and per-subscriber revenue for Hughes’ DIRECTV satellite television service and its DirecPC satellite broadband system, while extending the reach of AOL TV, AOL’s interactive television service, and the AOL-Plus high-speed Internet service.

The two companies also plan to develop new content and interactive services together, in the US and beyond. It all builds on their earlier agreement to produce a combination DIRECTV/AOL TV set-top receiver, due in consumer hands next year. Hughes Network Systems, the Hughes unit behind DirecPC, will design and initially manufacture that box. Anything that gets more households off dial-up has my attention, even when the pipe comes down from a satellite dish.