MySpaceTV has struck a deal to distribute its web video shows to media outlets around the globe. Shine Group, Elizabeth Murdoch's production company, will shop web shows around for TV syndication. (Dad Rupert happens owns News Corp., which owns MySpace, The Wall Street Journal, and Fox, among other properties).
Web properties such as "Quarterlife" or "Roommates" could show up on traditional broadcast television or DVDs outside of the U.S. Another option would be to create localized versions of the shows. MySpace will keep U.S. and worldwide Internet rights to the content.
"Quarterlife" was the first Internet series picked up by a TV network, but it was canceled after one episode. However, skeptics shouldn't sell the new effort short yet. There's a lot of, shall we say, old and bad TV content airing around the globe, so a U.S.-flavored web production could see a (financially) successful life as a broadcast property in an overseas market.
Further, it costs a lot of money to make a broadcast TV pilot in the U.S., so web productions could end up as the "farm team" for new broadcast shows.
For more:
- MySpace TV To Try Shopping Web Shows Abroad