Glenn Beck launches new show online

Glenn Beck's much-anticipated new show debuts online tonight on the subscription-based GBTV.

"Beck faces his first big test since leaving Fox News when his new two-hour show begins today," Laren A.E. Schuker blogged Monday for the Wall Street Journal. "The first episode of 'Glenn Beck,' which will air on his new Internet-only network GBTV, will focus on taking action, particularly in the wake of the 10-year anniversary of Sept. 11.

A Forbes analysis outlines how GBTV can propel Beck to earn more than $100 million annually (Forbes estimated his earnings for FY 2010 at $40 million).

"GBTV's centerpiece, a two-hour daily program called 'Glenn Beck,' doesn't even debut until this evening, but it already has more than 230,000 paying subscribers. That number has tripled since June, when the 80,000 people who were paying $9.95 a month for Beck's preexisting premium web service, Insider Extreme, have their subscriptions automatically rolled over into GBTV accounts."

The website Mediaite compares GBTV to Oprah Winfrey's OWN platform and reports that the 230,000 paying GBTV subscribers already outpace the number of people who watched OWN during June.

"While Beck's online venture is still relatively new, it'll continue to be interesting to observe the different trajectories GBTV and OWN take as they forge their way. Here are two networks, albeit on different platforms, begun by two individuals who are themselves highly recognizable mega-brands. One is gradually building an audience as another is still hoping to find its place on television, and both depend highly on the trust viewers place on their respective founding personalities."

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