MySpaceTV tries once again to branch out to real TVs

The online video provider from Fox Interactive Media is looking to take its Web-based shows to TV screens internationally with a newly announced deal with Shine.

Quarterlife, a short-form program featured prominently on MySpaceTV, made an attempt at breaking into the US broadcast television schedule last February on NBC. To say it was a catastrophic failure would be generous; the series not only ranked last among other shows in its 10 pm time slot, but received the lowest ratings NBC has seen in that slot for 17 years.

Now, the sales and distribution arm of the Shine Group, a production company founded by none other than NewsCorp/MySpace owner Rupert Murdoch's daughter, Elisabeth, has signed a distribution deal with MySpaceTV to bring its Web-based shows, including Quarterlife, to TV screens across the globe.

The deal was announced at the MipTV-Milia conference in Cannes, France, in a Keynote by MySpaceTV International Marketing Director Travis Katz. MySpace will retain rights to the shows in the US, and internationally on the Web and mobile broadcast -- the only places these shows have gained traction thus far -- but gives Shine international broadcasting rights, as well as optical media and merchandising rights.

Since the Murdoch family crest is stamped all over this deal, its "expansive" nature is suspect. However, the increased visibility the distributed shows should receive as a result gives content producers plenty to be excited about.