MySpace will rename and relaunch its video sharing service as MySpaceTV Thursday, according to the NY Times.

MySpace TV will operate as a standalone service and is being billed as a direct competitor to YouTube.

We've speculated on News Corps plans for a YouTube competitor previously; rumors first surfaced in December 06 and more recently NBC and News Corp were to launch a site in March. Nothing much has happened since aside from an upgrade to MySpace Video that included branded channels in May.

Thursday's launch of MySpaceTV may well be the long awaited NBC/ News Corp YouTube killer. It's probably a case of MySpace TV being better late than never in launching, even if YouTube has doubled its traffic since October and is now even harder to challenge.