The Star has announced plans to bring free print editions of the Onion and its sister publication the A.V. Club to the Toronto market starting this fall. Currently available in 14 U.S. markets, the deal marks the first time the satirical publication will be available outside of the U.S. And, as noted in the press release, "the Toronto edition will feature local Toronto content within The A.V. Club."

"Toronto has long been one of the Top-10 cities for The Onion's online audience," said Steve Hannah, President and CEO of Onion, Inc. "I think it's the perfect place for The Onion and A.V. Club to make their first foray outside the United States. Toronto has a tradition of great comedy as well as being a really smart, cosmopolitan city that has a natural audience for our pop culture coverage as well."

What precisely this will mean for Toronto's free alt-weekly scene remains to be seen, but clearly TorStar is heavily invested in the business model, having recently relaunched EYE Weekly as the Grid only a couple months prior to today's announcement, which will see the company assume "business management responsibilities, including advertising rights, sales, printing and distribution" of the Onion.

"The Toronto Star is pleased to enter into this agreement with The Onion," said John Cruickshank, Publisher of the Star and President of Star Media Group. "It is an agreement that benefits both companies and provides the Star's business-related teams with another publication to offer to audiences in the Greater Toronto Area."

What do you think? Is this a savvy move by TorStar? Will this hurt the readership of other alt-weeklies?

Photo by Michael Cornelius in the blogTO Flickr pool.