Beck Gambles on Network’s Future

Political commentator and Fox News star Glen Beck is set to make one of the biggest decisions of his professional career at the end of the month.

As I am sure all followers of the political spectrum are aware, Mr. Beck is due to leave Fox News Channel on June 30. Beck is making the transition from Fox to start his own network called, GBTV.

However, it is not the fact that Beck is leaving Fox that is drawing my attention. The most interesting part of this transition is how Mr. Beck and his employees plan to make a living from GBTV.

According to an article by Brian Stelter of NPR, Beck announced he will use a subscription based Internet model to draw revenue from his new endeavor.

While other websites such as Netflix have been vastly successful with this sort business model, what intrigues me the most is that this sort of venture is essentially untested in the realm of mainstream political commentary and news.

This makes GBTV’s success, or lack thereof a very big issue in the media world. With outlets such as newspapers and radio programs struggling to find a viable way to earn a profit in the 21st century, many people turn to Beck and his team to show whether or not making viewers pay for the ability to view their favorite shows will bring positive subscription numbers.

Beck has acknowledged the risks but says, “I’d rather be ahead of the pack than part of it.”

As someone who plans to make a career out of news gathering I will continue to follow Beck’s success with this venture solely due to the fact that what becomes of GBTV could very well shape the way people are delivered information for decades to come.

­— ogwise@indiana.edu