Bill O'Reilly streaming service on the way, expert predicts

Following his ignominious exit from Fox News

(Getty)

Bill O'Reilly has been fired from Fox News following a string of sexual harassment claims, but, being its best-known anchor and having a strong following, it's unlikely to be the end of his broadcast career.

"It is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims," he said in a statement. "But that is the unfortunate reality many in the public eye must live with today."

His refusal to admit guilt and the wording of him "parting ways" suggests he won't be retiring just yet, and it is likely he will pursue his own channel as fellow Fox News alum. Glenn Beck did with TheBlaze.

"At 4 million viewers a night and a social following in the millions, there is certainly a place for a Bill O’Reilly streaming service," Jon Cody, founder and CEO of OTT portfolio TV4, told The Hollywood Reporter.

"Candidly, it would be foolish for him not to do it. That said, it is hard for an individual to carry a sustainable, long-term brand in the emerging streaming world, but a broader conservative political channel or other targeted thematic channel headlined by O’Reilly in OTT makes a lot of sense."

Other experts have suggested that instead of ignoring the elephant in the room he will actually "leverage the moment", playing the martyr and positioning himself as a beacon of 'truth' amid a left wing media conspiracy against him.

"I don't see him doing the contrition route very well, and I don't see it being especially profitable for him," Eric Dezenhall, a D.C.-based crisis management consultant, mused to THR. "O'Reilly has a history of swinging back hard. He'll do what he does and what [Donald] Trump does — and that is to say that this is all a witch hunt."

Despite a New York Times exposé having revealed Fox News and O'Reilly collectively paid $13 million in out-of-court settlements related to harassment claims, O’Reilly’s attorney, Marc Kasowitz, claimed that the presenter has been the target of a “brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America,” fueled by “far-left organizations bent on destroying O’Reilly for political and financial reasons.”