Andrew Neil has admitted there were times he was "unhappy" at the BBC - but the launch of his new channel is not an act of revenge.
The broadcaster, 71, is to be the face and chairman of GB News, a new 24-hour TV channel which signals the end of his relationship with the BBC.
He hopes it will become "Britain's news channel", and will aim it at those who feel “under-served and unheard by their media”.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Neil said he moved on from the BBC in an “amicable way”.
Asked about his relationship with the broadcaster, he said: “You will have to ask the BBC that. I don’t really want to look back, I have enjoyed my years at the BBC.
“I have been surrounded by some of the most talented people in broadcasting.
“There have been times where I have been unhappy at how the BBC has treated me.
“They wouldn’t move This Week to a better time slot, it was getting closer and closer to midnight.
“They cancelled the Andrew Neil Show even though it was beating Channel 4 news every time it was on.”
Neil said the new director-general of the BBC, Tim Davie, had presented him with a number of offers but that they had felt like a “step back”.
He added: “The new DG came up with some really good offers at the end but they weren’t quite good enough.
READ MORE: Andrew Neil announces launch of new channel to rival BBC and Sky news
“I felt it was a bit of step back, too much water had flowed under the bridge. It was time to move on and I do so in an amicable way.
“I’m not out to seek revenge. I’m not going to do a John Humphrys in which you leave the BBC with glowing reports, then 24 hours later you beat up on the BBC. That’s not my style.”
He said GB News will be similar to US networks MSNBC and Fox News when it launches next year.
He said: “There would be no point doing what is already being done pretty well with the existing incumbents. It will not be a rolling news channel.
“It will be based more like MSNBC in America, which is on the left, and Fox, which is on the right.
“You know, Piers, as well as I do, they don’t do rolling news. They do news when it breaks but they don’t do continuous rolling news.
“They segment the day into individual programmes, news-based programmes, built around very strong presenters, or anchors as they call them in the United States, and that is what we will do.
“Anchors with a bit of edge, a bit of attitude, personality – and people will make an appointment to view them.”
At a time when the BBC and commercial media companies are cutting jobs, GB News said it hopes to create at least 120 positions.
They include more than 100 journalists in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland with the channel, in which global media and entertainment company Discovery Inc is the lead investor.
READ MORE: BBC political presenter Andrew Neil steps down after 25 years
GB News will feature more than 6,500 hours of content a year, made exclusively for the channel, which has secured broadcasting licences from Ofcom.
It has been founded by media executives Andrew Cole and Mark Schneider.
They plan for the channel to reach 96% of British television households via Freeview, Sky and Virgin Media.
GB News will broadcast seven days a week across the UK and Ireland and will be available globally on GB News digital platforms.
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