Glenn Beck unleashes his dogs of war

"Glenn was legitimately excited about publishing 'Michael Vey,' " Evans said. "First of all, he didn't have his staff call me — he called me. Everything was legitimate. He was excited about it, and you need that kind of excitement, that kind of buy-in from a publisher to really get behind it. …"

"It's great that he has some firepower behind him. His fan base is extremely loyal. It's one thing to have a lot of people watch your show; it's another to have real followers who are passionate. When he says 'this is big,' they believe him. You can measure numbers, but you can't measure that kind of power."

At this point there's simply no on-point comparison to employ as a reference for predict how Beck's vision might play out over time. Although Oprah Winfrey started her own cable channel at the outset of 2011, the financial paradigm of Oprah Winfrey Network is distinct from GBTV's because Oprah isn't monetizing her core base of viewers with subscription fees.

In terms of the near future, Beck is building a studio in Dallas to house his television show and GBTV operations (presently, GBTV shares facilities with other Mercury Radio Arts entities in New York). But beyond that, the only certainty on Planet Beck is that there's no going back now that Mercury Radio Arts has entered unchartered waters.

"GBTV is a fascinating concept," Evans observed. "I think he's pioneering something here, and it'll be interesting to see how it works out."

Read more: Glenn Beck: Living large in Texas, and richer than ever