The Onion News Network, the rudest “cable news” channel around, is breaking new ground with a paid download, and it’s using the iTunes Store to try it out.
Onion videos spoof CNN and Fox News with over-the-top graphics and stories, such as Domino’s Pizza’s attempt to create horrible food, the Google Phone ad whisper service, and the MacBook Wheel.
These videos, and others, are available for free in an ad-supported iTunes video podcast, via an iPhone app, and and in online streaming archives. The new venture is a 12-minute news report from the year 2137, and is only available as paid iTunes download for $1 in SD or $2 in HD. Presumably, if this experiment works out, you can expect to see more of the same.
The Onion included a preview clip of the paid video on the standard podcast feed on June 28.