Former Fox News star Bill O’Reilly launched a 30-minute online newscast on Wednesday night and wants feedback from viewers.
“Tonight we are starting an experiment, and I am seeking your feedback,” O’Reilly tweeted prior to the show. “Premium Members will see a new prototype production of my No Spin News analysis.”
The show was exclusive to premium members of his website on Wednesday night, but segments have since been released for free and automatically downloaded to the device of anyone who subscribed to O’Reilly’s podcast.
“How about that! Pretty spiffy,” O’Reilly said to open the show after a graphics package kicked it off.
The show takes place in what is dubbed “BOR Studio,” as opposed to his home where he recorded the podcast versions of the “No Spin News.” He called it a “prototype” studio and asked for feedback 30 seconds into the broadcast.
Less than one minute into the broadcast, the self-promotion was over and it was time to report the news. O’Reilly led with North Korea, calling the nation a “pain in the butt.” He eventually welcomed, via Skype, CNN host Michael Smerconish to discuss the situation after joking that he didn’t even know what Skype was earlier in the day.
O’Reilly was terminated by Fox in April after it was reported by the New York Times that the network had paid at least $13 million to settle harassment claims against him. He had been the most-watched host in all of cable news for over a decade when he was fired.
O’Reilly denies all wrongdoing.