MySpace goes after YouTube

MySpace went beta last week with a video site aimed directly at YouTube's piece of the pie. MySpaceTV looks remarkably similar to YouTube, including the now ubiquitous small video window with the triangular play link in the center. The "Dramatic Chipmunk Remix" was the featured video on the home page July 2. It had 348,278 plays and a rating of zero percent.

Given that MySpace is a News Corp. property, an IPTV play is no surprise. What is surprising is that it took two years. News Corp., which also owns the Fox TV networks, bought MySpace in July 2005 for $580 million. The justification at the time was to drive traffic to the Fox websites. All that was missing was video clips. No more.

For more:
- Digital Music News offers coverage
- The beta site is here