The two-card device enables computers to receive, decode and display digital television signals on the screen of a PC. Broadcasts of high definition and digital TV signals began in major markets around the country on November 1.

The companies said the tuner will initially be marketed by Panasonic to the television broadcast industry. However, as the market develops for high-definition television (HDTV), a Compaq spokesman said the company will offer consumer-oriented turner products.

"Digital television for PCs will probably be available to the consumer market a year from now, maybe sooner," said Sai Naimpally, vice president of Panasonic's Digital Technology Laboratory.

The measured approach reflects Compaq's belief that the market for interactivetelevision will only fully blossom as high-speed Internet access connections become more widespread.

Already, Compaq offers television tuner equipment as an option on its existing PC line-up, but has retreated from an earlier push to put TV tuners in all of its computers.

The company pulled back after it found that demand for interactive TV features were slow to develop among consumers who buckled at paying the additional cost, analysts have said.

Panasonic does not expect the device, which will cost between $800 and $1,000 per unit, to compete with HDTV television sets, which can cost between $7,000 and $10,000, or more.

"We don't think of them as competing... people have televisions in their homes and computers in their homes," Naimpally said.

Panasonic, the North American marketing channel for Japanese electronic components manufacturer Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., was the first company to launch an HDTV television in August and a tuner-decoder box in October.