MySpace launches online TV channels

BY A CORRESPONDENT

18 May, 2007: MySpace, the popular social networking website, is planning to launch online television channels from news and entertainment networks, including The New York Times and the National Geographic.

The new channels will also comprise programming from ‘lifestyle’ media companies that will offer animation, night life, video game shows, and music.

MySpace is owned by News Corp., Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomerate.

The move by MySpace comes in the wake of video being seen as an important driver of traffic to websites such as MySpace, Google Inc.’s YouTube and other sites offering both user-generated fare and shows produced by television networks and other professionals.
Even as advertisers are shifting money from traditional network television to the internet, MySpace will, in the coming months, offer video channels from National Geographic, including short videos drawn from shows such as Explorer and The Dog Whisperer.

MySpace will also offer movie reviews, political news and other content from the Times and Reuters Group PLC.

The new lifestyle channels of MySpace will feature animation, video games and other video from News Corp’s IGN Entertainment website and shows from Ripe TV, targeting young, adult males.

The other channels on MySpace are The Daily Reel, a selection of the best short video clips on the Web; Expert Village, offering advice on topics such as ‘how to make the perfect margarita’; and Kush TV, featuring reality shows and coverage of live concert and sporting events.

MySpace will also have as partners LX.TV, which will feature dining, shopping and nightlife guidance in major cities; VBS TV, a music and cultural channel from the makers of Vice magazine, and Young Hollywood, featuring exclusive celebrity footage and videos.