Emboldened by the success of video series within its pages, MySpace is taking on the ownership role of a television network as it seeks a bigger piece of the action, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The top social networking site co-developed a new scripted serial, “Roommates,” that premieres today. The Web show — about several underdressed young women who make ends meet by starring in a reality show about underdressed young women — will air daily at Myspacetv.com and on new MySpace pages devoted to the subjects.

The News Corp. unit, based in Beverly Hills, is keeping editorial control of the show, which generally runs 3 minutes and is promoted by fictitious blogs and other MySpace elements. Regular production duties will be handled by Scott Zakarin’s Iron Sink Media.

“We are entering the creation business,” said Jeff Berman, general manager of MySpace TV. “There are certainly more to come. We’ll see how we do.”

MySpace can produce an entire season of a Web show for a fraction of the millions of dollars it takes to shoot one network TV pilot, Berman said. With Ford Motor Co. as a sponsor, MySpace might have already covered all of its costs; it wouldn’t say.

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