Panasonic, MySpace team for TV experiment

Tim Vanderhook, Justin Timberlake, Shiro Kitajima, President, Panasonic consumer electronics marketing company of north america, Merwan Mereby, VP, interactive content and services - Panasonic Panasonic is teaming with MySpace for the rollout of the social network's new social TV experiment.MySpace TV will be the crown jewel of Panasonic's collection of TV apps, letting people chat with friends as they watch programming and see what's trending among their social circles."We're giving you the opportunity to connect your friends to your moments as they're actually happening," said MySpace investor, singer and actor Justin Timberlake, who made a surprise appearance at the Panasonic CES press conference. "This is the evolution of one of our greatest inventions -- the television. And now you no longer have to crowd around the same one."The reinvention of MySpace will not be centered around user-generated content. Timberlake and MySpace CEO Tim Vanderhook emphasized this was a new layer that was being added to existing programming on any channel.The company also announced plans to add a Miramax application to its Viera lineup, letting people watch films from the studio's catalog without going through a pay streaming service like Netflix or Hulu."We're innovating on the traditional role of what a studio is," said Michael Lang, CEO Miramax. "In fact, I like to think we're a bit more Silicon Valley than Hollywood."To capture the family audience, Panasonic announced a new children's entertainment category in its app offerings, parterning with Disney publishing to bring digital books to 2012 TVs.NBC Olympics president Gary Zenkel was also touted over 200 hours of the summer Olympics in London would be broadcast in 3D, thanks to a Panasonic sponsorship. Included in that collection will be the games' opening and closing ceremonies. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com