WWW- OK, are you ready?

Supermarkets around the country will be featuring a new entrant in the celebrity magazine wars starting Wednesday, when a British weekly debuts its American edition. OK!, owned by former porn publisher Richard Desmond, is committing $100 million to move into the crowded market with a magazine that takes a different approach from its rivals. For one thing, says chief executive Christian Toksvig, it will be larger than People, Us, Star and In Touch, adopting the tabloid size of publications such as The National Enquirer, but using glossy paper.

And OK! pays celebrities (or if they choose, their favorite charities) for access.

“We have a very big female star on the first cover, who we have done an exclusive photo shoot and an exclusive interview with,” says Toksvig, who is keeping the name a secret for competitive reasons. He says buying access is preferable to stalking celebrities and running stories the stars haven’t themselves verified.

But editors of the established U.S. weeklies say they don’t think OK!’s approach will work here. Readers “expect a certain level of journalistic integrity,” says Bonnie Fuller, editorial director of American Media, which publishes Star and The National Enquirer, among others. “I don’t think that most Americans would consider that paying for celebrities to give you a story would really fit with that requirement.”