The commercial arm of the 85-year-old BBC has cut a deal with No. 1 social networker MySpace to bring clips of "Doctor Who," "The Mighty Boosh," "Top Gear," and other shows to the site's Internet TV platform.
The deal is the first between MySpaceTV, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., and a major broadcaster. Beginning Thursday, MySpace users will be able to go http://www.myspacetv.com/bbcworldwide to subscribe to the channel, watch the short-form videos, and embed them on their profile pages.
The moves come as BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation, plans the 2008 release of its own media player and MySpace remains locked in a rivalry with the fast-growing Facebook social network.
Other programs available on MySpaceTV will be "Robin Hood," "Red Dwarf" and "The Catherine Tate Show." The programming will be aired in 13 languages in the Far East, Europe, and South America.