MySpace is Reborn at Panasonic Press Conference, Unleashes Justin Timberlake

LAS VEGAS—MySpace was the biggest social network of…several years ago. Since then it has gone into a long, slow decline and has changed hands and been generally ignored in favor of Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking services. Panasonic has announced at CES 2012 that it is stepping in to bring MySpace back to the forefront of online socializing with a new MySpace service that isn't about social networking; instead, MySpace is being reinvented as social television viewing.

Myspace is starting by dropping the second capital (and underlining the "space" part of its logo), rebranding MySpace from a social network web site to a way to watch TV with friends. The new service is called Myspace TV, and it will work with Panasonic HDTVs as part of Viera Connect.

Myspace CEO Tim Vanderhook and co-owner Justin Timberlake (yes, the singer/actor) showed up at the Panasonic press conference on Monday to announce Myspace TV. The two purchased MySpace from NewsCorp earlier this year, in one of the stranger sales/merger stories of the year.

The service will focus on music at first, with music channels on Myspace TV using the company's rights to 100,000 music videos and 42,000,000 songs. Users will be able to watch/listen to these songs and comment on what they think about them simultaneously, creating an audience experience. It will be expanded to television and movies, with additional channels featuring news, sports, and reality TV.

A Myspace TV app will be released on tablets and smartphones, serving as a companion to the Viera Connect app and letting users sync their content. It will still require a Panasonic HDTV with Viera Connect for use. Panasonic and Myspace will launch Myspace TV in the first half of 2012.