Justin Timberlake Debuts Myspace TV

To unveil their new multimedia direction, Myspace is using a familiar face: Justin Timberlake, the company’s co-owner.

In an announcement that kicked off the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on Monday night, Timberlake discussed how the social networking site is rebranding to include real-time television and online discussion. “The future of Myspace is about what you’re going to do. About who you’re going to become,” he said in a brief presentation. “Myspace TV is the first foray into that future.”

Myspace TV will encompass the site’s library of 42 million songs and 100,000 music videos, and it will enable instant communication about them between friends.

“We’re ready to take television and entertainment to the next step by upgrading it to the social networking experience,” said Timberlake. “Why text or email your friends to talk about your favorite programs after they’ve aired when you could be sharing the experience with real-time interactivity from anywhere across the globe?”

The service will expand eventually to include reality TV and sports channels, in partnership with Panasonic. Myspace’s partners clearly hope that it will revive the once-enormous networking site by offering a communal experience and technological immediacy that its chief rival, Facebook, cannot provide.

“As the plot of your favorite drama unfolds, the joke of your favorite SNL character plays or even the last-second shot of your favorite team swishes the net, we’re giving you the opportunity to connect your friends to your moments as they’re actually occurring. This is the evolution of one of our greatest inventions, the television,” said Timberlake.