Social networking site MySpace is hoping to bring its range of web shows aimed at twentysomethings, including Roommates and Quarterlife, onto television screens around the world after signing a deal with production company ShineReveille.
To date, MySpace has mostly focused on TV-to-web, drawing in viewers through partnerships with BBC Worldwide and National Geographic, amongst others, providing channels full of clips from their popular TV shows.
Now the News Corporation-owned site is seeking to use MySpace as a launch pad or test base for new programming, determined by its television success based on user feedback.
The production company in question, ShineReveille, is owned by News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch’s daughter, Elizabeth, and produces UK TV shows including Project Catwalk and Masterchef.
The announcement was made yesterday in Cannes by Travis Katz, managing director for MySpace’s international operations at MIPTV, an annual conference on audiovisual and digital content.
Katz said the move would turn MySpace into a ‘digital playground’ for Hollywood by virally testing programming on the ‘world’s largest focus group’.
MySpace currently has over 110 million user accounts and recently launched a music store that will sell concert tickets and ringtones as well as digital album downloads.
By Marie Boran
