Telegraph inks Onion TV deal

UK newspaper The Telegraph is set to air The Onion News Network web series after inking a deal with online distributor myvideorights.com.

The newspaper will air series including War for the White House on its website in the run up to the US election.

Myvideorights.com struck the deal after it closed an arrangement with The Onion News Network to distribute its content internationally across the web.

CEO Ashley Mackenzie told TBIvision that it was looking to be the Getty Images of web video. "I’ve been a massive fan of The Onion for years and the presidential election is making big headlines over here as well as in the US. But from commercial point of view, they’re not very active internationally."

He added that he hopes his company will drive out the human cost of doing business online. "If there’s only a £5,000 or £10,000 license [fee], we want to make sure that that’s mostly profit and not tied up with sales, marketing and legal costs," he added.

Myvideorights.com has also recently struck a deal with music producer Eagle Rock Entertainment to represent its library of concerts. "Watching websites today without video is like watching black and white TV," he said.