Allbritton On TBD.com: ‘You’ve Got To Have Some Staying Power’

When Robert Allbritton put the money and power of Allbritton Communications behind a new DC political news site in 2007, no one knew what to expect. Sure, he had talent in Washington Post vets John Harris and Jim VandeHei and a way to combine web and print that might actually make money. But we’ve all seen high-profile business plans fizzle. Politico worked. Allbritton admits it’s not profitable every quarter but says it’s turning a profit for any given six months.

Can he do it twice? Can he go head to head with WaPo again with another smart team led by a former exec from the news organization and create another lightning strike? Or is the seasoned pilot about to hit an air pocket with equally ambitious TBD.com? He spoke with paidContent about the community news and info site launching today meshed with Allbritton’s DC TV operations, about the spending and about his willingness to lose money on the effort for at least a couple of years. “The first year of Politico was pretty ugly in terms of revenue,” he admitted. “You’ve got to have some staying power for these things to work.” (My first look at the new site is here.)

On a traditional media clock, eight months between announcing an online local news startup and launch breaks land speed records. But Allbritton is on a different clock — and he knows the new TBD.com is being weighed against his own Politico launch. “It