Glenn Beck back -- on Web pay TV
Conservative firebrand Glenn Beck is back - gambling on a new platform.
He launched a new daily program Monday night on his new, Internet-based network called - what else? - GBTV.
As CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller notes, Beck is taking on a new medium.
"We are starting a movement in America," Beck said during his first show.
He's one of the most controversial figures in media - part teacher, and part preacher.
"There is courage in our times!" he said from a stage at one point.
Now, just three months after that program ended, Beck has returned, taking on subjects ranging from 9/11 to the economy.
Of the tenth 9/11, he said, "We will lucky at best if the next generation recognizes something actually happened on this date in history, 9/11."
On the economy: "The president is a Marxist. There, I said it!"
"He's really setting himself as this multi-media powerhouse," says Glynnis MacNicol, editor of Business Insider's blog, "The Wire," "and seeing if the world is ready to watch TV on the Internet."
Pushing boundaries is nothing new for Beck. During his two years at Fox News, he rose to prominence, cultivating a committed following with emotional outbursts, such as when he said, through tears, "I'm sorry. I just love my country, and I fear for it."
He was also noted for his fiery statements, such as, in referring sarcastically to Communists, "Our glorious revolution is starting to take hold," and even leading a march on Washington in August 2010 he called "Restoring Honor."
But his antics soon became too much for Fox News, which began losing advertisers. Beck and the cable network parted ways in June.
"It's a pretty bold move for Glenn Beck," says Rebecca Dana, senior editor of Newsweek and The Daily Beast, "although I do want to say that I'm not sure how many options he had. It's not like people were clamoring to have him on their cable networks, and Fox seemed pretty much done with him by the end."
But Fox News isn't completely done with Beck.
Monday night, he appeared on "The O'Reilly Factor," where his old colleague poked fun at him, saying, "You look like a member of Crosby Stills and Nash!"
Beck came back with, "I didn't miss this, BIll. I didn't miss this!"
Beck reportedly has more than 230,000 daily viewers, each paying nearly $10 a month to stream his daily broadcasts.
By comparison, Oprah Winfrey's OWN network, with no subscription fee, is said to have averaged only 156-thousand viewers in June.
The ever-controversial Beck doesn't seem all that concerned about holding onto viewers this time around, telling viewers at one point, "If you don't like the next segment, cancel your subscription."
His new network is expected to rake in $20 million in its debut year.
