NEW YORK – AOL and the Huffington Post are launching a live video network that aims to combine broadcast news with social media.

The Huffington Post Streaming Network was previewed Thursday at AOL’s Manhattan headquarters. The online network will launch this summer, streaming news video live 12 hours a day on weekdays, expanding to 16 hours a day next year.

The Huffington Post, which AOL purchased for $315 million a year ago, is dedicating 100 employees to the project. It will be webcast from studios in New York and Los Angeles, as well as a satellite studio in Washington.

Huffington Post founding editor Roy Sekoff, who will head the network, declined to say how much AOL is spending, but called it a “substantial investment.” He likened the network to a “never-ending talk show” that will “mirror the Internet experience.”

On Wednesday, AOL Inc. reported sharply lower fourth-quarter net income, but a rise of 10 percent in ad revenue. In shifting from the obsolete business of dial-up Internet to a contemporary media company, AOL has sought to invest in the content business, a philosophy AOL CEO Tim Armstrong reiterated Thursday.

Armstrong called the launching of the HPSN, as the network is referred to in short, to a bigger “bet” for AOL than its purchase of the Huffington Post. He called the network “a game-changing type idea.”

Arianna Huffington, head of the Huffington Post Media Group, seconded that hyperbole, calling the network “truly groundbreaking.”