http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203961204577269230271521006.htmlBy CHRISTOPHER S. STEWART
Glenn Beck still rails against his usual enemies, from the "hardcore socialist left" to "extreme Islam." Now there is a new target: mainstream television.
After parting company with Fox News last year, Mr. Beck took his message of outrage and self-reliance online. He launched an Internet video network called GBTV, where he is on air for two hours a day, alongside six more hours of shows, from "Liberty Treehouse," a history and news program for children, to the reality program "Independence USA," where a family explores life off the grid.
Conservative firebrand Glenn Beck has big ambitions for his Web TV channel, GBTV, which currently has only a few hours of programming but plans become a 24/7 network. Christopher Stewart has details on The News Hub. Photo: AFP/Getty Images
.Ultimately, Mr. Beck said GBTV will become a 24/7 network, with plans to double programming this year. In January, he signed a deal with the production company Icebox —founded by writers from "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill" —to create an animated comedy series. He also is readying a documentary about Occupy Wall Street.
"We're taking on the big guys," Mr. Beck said in a recent interview at the Manhattan production studio of GBTV in the basement of a skyscraper. The conservative talk-show host had just flown in from Dallas, where he now lives—"away from the suits," as he put it.
On one side of the room sits a glassed-in control room, packed with humming computers and servers. Then there are his signature set items: a wall of TVs playing loops of news clips and those famous chalkboards, which Mr. Beck uses to emphasize his on-air talking points, recent favorites of which are economic collapse, hate and war.
Driving Mr. Beck's subscription-based network is a belief that television is going through an existential crisis, with the rise of online video outlets like Netflix Inc. NFLX +4.67%and Google Inc.'s GOOG +0.83%YouTube threatening to lure away viewers.
.For established personalities, like Mr. Beck the barriers to entry are low on the Internet. Other celebrities have started to experiment online. In December, the comedian Louis C.K., who stars in FX's "Louie," sold his comedy show "Louis C. K: Live at the Beacon Theater" for $5 a download on his website. In about 12 days, he said he pulled in more than $1 million. Jillian Michaels, a screaming trainer on NBC's "The Biggest Loser," now sells weight-loss programs and fitness videogames online.
"The political and pop culture personalities going directly to their public is definitely a phenomenon that is starting to break," said Michael Hirschorn, the former head of programming at VH1 who co-founded the entertainment company IconicTV, which is creating three channels for YouTube. But that notion of stars going straight to their fans online is still mostly uncharted. "We have yet to prove the business model out, but it feels inevitable" Mr. Hirschorn said.
Mr. Beck is intent on keeping his Fox fans while also capturing the younger Internet-surfing generation. "When the audience of 65 and over dies off," he said, "then TV is in trouble if they haven't found a new way to connect with the next vibrant and mobile generation."
In contrast to traditional TV, which depends on people buying big bundles of channels, GBTV is available as an individual channel and must be watched on Internet-connected devices,
Glenn Beck says his GBTV will become a 24/7 network.
."We are on the edge of something that is bigger than industrial revolution," Mr. Beck said of the industry changes. "How do you survive? What will people want?"
The transformation is also evident in the economics of the business. On Fox News, Mr. Beck averaged 2.2 million daily viewers and was paid $2.5 million a year. GBTV, which jumped on the scene in September, is expected to bring in at least $40 million in revenue this year, supported by advertising and more than 300,000 subscribers paying as much as $9.95 a month for full access to GBTV, according to a person close to the company. While it is significantly smaller than his audience at Fox News, it's still more than an established network like CNBC, which drew an average of 189,000 viewers over the course of the total day in February, according to Nielsen.
To turn that revenue into profit, Mr. Beck keeps costs low by using staff and equipment already in place for other parts of Mercury Radio Arts, Mr. Beck's multimedia mini-empire, which includes best-selling books, a syndicated radio show that draws some 10 million listeners a week, public events, and Blaze, a news and opinion website. As a result, Mr. Beck's initial investment in the network was paid off in the first two months, according to a person close to the company.
Some 120 people now work in the wider Beck kingdom, which is expected to bring in $80 million in revenue this year, according to the same person. The business is flush enough now to afford two sets—the one in New York and a second in Dallas, where the network's headquarters is being built—the capital of Glenn Beck Inc.
"It's scary to go out and not take someone else's money," said Mr. Beck, sitting now on a couch below pictures of the Founding Fathers. "But I wanted to be my own man, and say, 'Look at what we built.' "
Few people urged him on. "No one said, 'Hey, you should take the most successful show on TV at 5 o'clock and flush it down the toilet and then you should take a gigantic movement called Fox and kiss it goodbye.' Who does that?"
"To go off and start his own thing, that's a huge risk," said Rich Greenfield, an analyst at BTIG LLC. "But if people are willing to pay you, then you're cutting out the middleman."
The commentator, who sometimes calls himself a "rodeo clown," came out of morning radio, where he became known for his right-leaning rhetoric, before moving to cable news, first with CNN and then to Fox News.
On air, Mr. Beck positions himself as a kind of healer in a fallen world, driven in part by his fight with alcoholism. "One of the promises I made myself when I sobered up," said Mr. Beck, "is to be true to yourself."
In his 27-month stint at Fox News from 2009 into 2011 he predicted the fall of the U.S. economy, occasionally cried, and picked fights with the Obama administration, at one time accusing the president of "a deep-seated hatred for white people," a remark that caused advertisers to flee. (Fox News is owned by News Corp NWSA +0.85%., which owns The Wall Street Journal.)
After clashing with management, Mr. Beck and Fox split up. He considered joining another cable channel, but decided mainstream news was too restrictive with "too many filters." He also wanted more control over staff, content and air time.
"I like to do 20-30 minute monologues—sometimes, I like to skip a commercial break," he said. "Sometimes I like to completely ignore the news of the day."
At one point, he joked that the slogan for GBTV would be "Too Crazy For Fox? I'll Show You Too Crazy For Fox" but instead it became "The Truth Lives Here."
As for the future, if the world doesn't end, Mr. Beck concedes that he isn't sure where the network will go. "I have self-doubt every single day," he said, adding at another point, "come back to me in a year."
But asked if he would ever return to cable, Mr. Beck said he wouldn't rule out working with a network as a supplier—just not as an employee. "I am a content provider," he said. "I'll provide content to anybody.""
Write to Christopher S. Stewart at christopher.stewart@wsj.com
