MySpace and BBC in video content partnership

Source: Technology Digital

Date :24/01/2008 09:28:02

MySpace will announce Thursday a partnership with the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, marking the online community’s first global content deal involving a major network.

The deal will bring some of the British broadcaster's programs to a worldwide audience, as MySpace, the online joint venture between Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and NBC Universal, seeks to increase the video content available to users.

MySpace will present selected BBC programs through its video platform, MySpaceTV, with users able to share clips with friends through such means as embedding them into their personal profile pages.

Video content

After Google Inc.’s YouTube, MySpace is the second-largest video website but with advertising increasing online – $1.3billion in 2007.

The BBC already has a deal with YouTube allowing the popular video-sharing site to show excerpts of news and entertainment programs.

"With the global nature of the deal, this is a great opportunity to put the best shows from the BBC in front of new audiences," Simon Danker, director of digital media for BBC Worldwide, said in a statement.

The British Broadcasting Corp. and MySpace will share advertising revenue under the deal, but declined to discuss the financial terms agreed.

January 24, 2008