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MySpace Debuts $1.99 Video Downloads

Fear of Expensive Downloads May Displace Parents' Fear of Predators

By James R. Hood
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 22, 2006

• Facebook Agrees to Upgrade Safety Measures • Hanna Montana Photo Flap Part of a Trend • New Jersey Investigating College Gossip Site • No Easy Remedy for Imposter Postings on Social Networking Sites • Social Networking Sites Not the Biggest Danger for Teens? • Keeping Teens Safe Online • MySpace Agrees To Toughen Security For Young Users • MySpace Harassment Case Takes Odd Turn • Texas Sues Kids' Web Sites • States Keep the Heat on Facebook, MySpace • Texas Rounds Up 14 Sex Offenders on MySpace • New Jersey Subpoenas Facebook • Predator Who Used MySpace Gets Seven-Year Sentence • Facebook Has 'A Long Way to Go,' Investigators Say • Cuomo Charges Facebook Ignores Sexual Predators • MySpace Deletes More Sex Offenders • New Jersey Targets Sex Offenders With MySpace Profiles • States To Get MySpace Sex Offender Data • MySpace Deletes Thousands Of Sex Offenders • States Press MySpace For Data On Sex Offenders • Survey Finds Teen Behaviors Linked with Victimization • New MySpace Security Measures May Be Too Late • MySpace Builds Database to Target Predators • Pittsburgh Man Arrested in MySpace Sex Case • New Scam Targets MySpace Users • States Cracking Down on Dating Sites • MySpace Glitch Gives Hackers Teen Data • FTC "Concerned" About MySpace & Other Networking Sites • Texas Teen Sues MySpace for $30 Million • MySpace Debuts $1.99 Video Downloads • Massachusetts Puts Heat on MySpace.com • MySpace Names Security Czar • Connecticut Asks MySpace to Provide Blocking Software to Parents • What's Inside MySpace.com? • Connecticut Opens MySpace.Com Probe --- • MySpace Complaints • Facebook Complaints

Look out, parents. Starting today, MySpace.com is launching an expanded series of video downloads that Rupert Murdoch hopes will be the key to "monetizing" the vast teen hang-out site he bought last year for $580 million.

Until now, parents have feared their teens were exposing themselves to predators with their MySpace.com profiles, but at least they didn't have to worry that the kids were piling up charges on the family credit card. That all changes today.

MySpace is among the world's top Web sites in terms of viewers but lags badly in the revenue department because teens exchanging photos and gossip aren't terribly attractive to advertisers.

Hoping to remedy that, Murdoch's News Corp. is building a "Have it you way" page with help from Fox Entertainment, another Murdoch property, and fat-food giant Burger King.

The page will offer two free episodes of Fox's drama "24" and will feature a "social network" page where users can interact with each other, create their own content and, not so coincidentally, download the entire first and fifth seasons of the TV series for $1.99 per episode -- note that's per episode, not per season.

Parents, that ka-ching sound you hear is Murdoch's cash register ringing up transactions on your credit card. Just as iTunes has proved a bonanza for Apple and an often unexpected expense for parents, so MySpace.com today makes the magic transition from worrisome but free to worrisome and potentially expensive.

Fox announced earlier this month that it would start selling television shows including "24" and "Prison Break" on iTunes.

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