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MySpace Planning Web TV Service

MySpace aims to offer a Web video subscription service rivaling cable TV. “Wait. Myspace?” asks an incredulous AllThingsD. “Right, Myspace: The once-hot, then very un-hot social network that News Corp. … sold for a bag of chips last year.” Specific Media, MySpace’s new owner, says it will offer an “over the top” service in the first half of this year. It should include a full suite of TV programming and sell that bundled up with all sorts of cool interactive goodies.

No word on pricing, and Specific CEO Tim Vanderhook says he has yet to reach any substantive deals with TV programmers. As AllThingsD notes, the industry was waiting for Google, Apple, or perhaps Verizon to pioneer such a service. Despite a flashy endorsement from Justin Timberlake, skeptics seriously doubt whether MySpace can pull off such a grand project.

“If nothing else, though, Specific’s announcement points out how plausible the idea of a Web-based pay TV service now seems to lots of sober people,” AllThingsD reaons. “Many cable programmers are just fine with the idea, as long as: 1) the new services pay full freight, and 2) the new services don’t want to break up their bundles.”

Read the whole story at All Things D »

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