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November 12, 2008 9:32 AM PST

MySpace launches searchable video widget

by Caroline McCarthy

The MySpace Primetime video app.

(Credit: MySpace)

Now you can put a TV on your MySpace profile--sort of.

The News Corp.-owned social network has built a new widget for its developer platform called "Primetime," a video player that syndicates much of the professionally created content available on its MySpaceTV media hub. Included in that roster is video from Hulu (a joint venture between News Corp. and NBC Universal), Warner Bros., Sony, and other MySpace content partners as well as the social network's original video content.

It's also searchable, and provides another outlet for MySpace's video ads. Since it's a developer platform app, it's not embeddable elsewhere, but MySpace is a partner in the OpenSocial project and therefore could probably syndicate the widget outside its own site without too much tweaking.

MySpace is now encouraging users to embed Primetime on their profiles. It's only available to members in the U.S., probably because of licensing issues. But the U.S. is MySpace's biggest market, where 76 million of its 122 million visitors come from.

"The Primetime application highlights how professional video content is being voraciously consumed across the MySpace ecosystem, not just within MySpaceTV," Jason Kirk, vice president of video and entertainment for MySpace, said in a release Wednesday.

Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline.
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About The Social

CNET News' Caroline McCarthy is a downtown Manhattanite who believes that, despite popular opinion, the Web can actually help your social life. She's happily addicted to fun social-media tools from Twitter to Yelp to Facebook, sends an inordinate number of text messages, and has a tendency to waste time at the office reading restaurant blogs. Here, she explores all facets of the Web's gregarious side, as well as the unique tech culture in her home city of New York. (Don't call it Silicon Alley.)

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