CYBERSPACE – Google Inc. and News Corp. have arrived at an agreement under which Google will pay $900 million across three and half years to provide text-based advertising and keyword targeted ads across the Fox Interactive Media network, as well as News Corp’s popular Myspace.com social networking site.Under the terms of the agreement, Google will be the exclusive provider of text-based and keyword-targeted advertising on the Fox network, and will also have the right of first refusal on ads sold through third parties.

In return, Fox will receive a guaranteed minimum share payment of $900 million over a term which begins with the first quarter of 2007 and ends after the second quarter of 2010.

“This is an exciting time in our history as a forward thinking media company and this is just the first of many steps we plan to take with Google,” Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of News Corp said in a statement released by the company. “We look forward to expanding our relationship into many new areas over years to come.”

The growth of social networking sites with the Internet market sector has made destinations like MySpace.com prime real estate for advertisers. According to web analytics firm ComScore Networks, MySpace.com received over 51 million visitors in May of this year, and Nielsen Net Ratings claims that the top ten social networking sites in April received traffic from close to half of all web surfers online that month.

“We believe that our innovative technologies will be of real benefit to Fox Interactive Media’s growing number of users,” commented Google’s chief executive Eric Schmidt in a written statement. “MySpace.com is a widely acknowledged leader in user-generated content and incorporating search and advertising furthers our mission of making the world’s information universally accessible and useful.”

News of the deal appears to be receiving a warm welcome from investors, with share prices increasing for both companies on the heels of the announcement.

Google shares were trading at $380.51 on the NASDAQ as of press time for this article, up from the previous close of $377.95, while News Corp’s shares were at $20.08, up from the previous close of $19.76.