If only creating a wire service was as easy as pundits blabbering about creating an alternative to AP. CNN’s nascent wire service, launched for newspapers and online, is already tinkering with its business model a few months after its launch: it has launched a text-only online store, at CNNWireStore.com, to start offering a la carte stories at $199 a piece for a single use, with self-serve payment via credit card. The new store is aimed at newspapers, sites and blogs. Reuters and AP also offer single story reprint, through iCopyright, though that’s priced at around $500 per story for a finite time period.

CNN Newsource Sales, which oversees the network’s relationship with its 800 affiliates including TV stations and local/regional cable news channels, is running the new website. Earlier this year, CNN’s wire service was launched as subscription service aimed at small newspaper clients. More details here.

Staci adds: The CNN Wire license tries to cover every option: no to use for marketing, yes to changing the format to match publication, etc. The rule for RSS use: “may consist of no more than the headline and first paragraph of the Content that link back to Licensee’s website for display of the full story.” And sites have to post “terms and conditions” that include restrictions on downloads for other than personal use, and prohibit re-use in any other way. But the licensee owns the editorial decision making, responsible for “all editorial decisions”—and there’s no “warranty of accuracy, completeness, currency or reliability.” Don’t you just love the fine print?

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