South Park Too Big, Long, Uncut for Apple

By Mike Schuster Feb 19, 2009 1:45 pm

Brief scrutiny of today's headlines.

Comment

South Park on the iTunes Store for $1.99 an episode: Fantastic!

An app that streams South Park episodes for free: "Potentially offensive."

Yes, like an elementary-school principal putting the kibosh on T-shirts bearing Cartman's image, Apple (AAPL) has rejected an effort by the South Park creators to post a streaming video app to its iTunes Store. Aside from watching full episodes on demand for free, the app would also allow users to access show news and desktop wallpaper.

It was also a rare coup to have free content sanctioned by the show's creators.

In a statement given on the South Park website, the app was submitted several times for approval by Apple, but has been repeatedly denied. While the company admits that standards could evolve in the future -- iTunes didn't list any songs with explicit lyrics when it first launched, for example -- the content is banished, at least for now.

This coming from the same team that approved apps that turn your iPhone into a fart soundboard or sniper-target calibrator. However you feel about sentient feces and towels crippled by substance abuse, Apple hasn't previously had a problem releasing apps with mature -- or childish -- themes.

It's likely the "free streaming videos" were what tripped up the approval process.

To take that principal analogy still further: It's as if the school administrators banned free giveaways of South Park shirts - yet still sold them in the school store.Twitter: @mcs212