Two months after his acrimonious split with Fox News Channel, Bill O’Reilly told a live audience Saturday night.
During a Q&A portion of his The Spin Stops Here live tour in Westbury, NY, Newsday reports O’Reilly was asked whether he planned to start his own network.
“There could be a new network. A bunch of people are looking to compete with Fox because there’s a perception” decline, O’Reilly said.
“But I am starting my own operation. We are going to do that,” adding that his website, billoreilly.com, will beta test a half-hour newscast “where we will go into a studio and here it will look like ‘The Factor.’ It’s basically an experiment to see how many people are going to want this service. That’s coming and will be here before September in a robust form. But I suspect there will be another network maybe merging with us. There will be a network that rises up because the numbers for Fox are going down.”
This morning on his website, O’Reilly said he’ll think through these bold plans. “I am taking some time to decide as America is changing quickly and I don’t want to miscalculate,” O’Reilly wrote. “The hard truth is that corporations are now intimidated by political hatred. Opinion journalism is under siege and you must have a strong stomach to compete in this arena.”
My personal odyssey is not over and I have a number of battles yet to fight. This will be done responsibly and methodically. I am very glad so many folks remain on my side.”