He proved too divisive for Fox News - and in particular for their advertisers - but now conservative pundit Glenn Beck’s Internet channel TheBlaze has been picked up by the cable system operated by Cablevision.
That means that Beck will be back on TV in the New York metropolitan area for the first time since he left Fox News in 2011. It may not be welcome news for his old network but it's music to The Daily Show's Jon Stewart's ears.
According to the New York Times the dramatic announcement was made on Wednesday night and will allow Cablevision, which has about three million subscribers in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, to broadcast the show.
But it's a dangerously controversial move for the cable network, since Beck has proved himself a divisive lightening rod on the national stage.
Undaunted Cablevision said TheBlaze would be available to subscribers of its cable service Optimum TV starting in late May.
Cablevision’s vice president of video product management Bradley Feldman boasted that the cable company's 'Optimum TV is the only cable provider in the tri-state area to bring our customers original programming from Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze, and the independent network will add more diversity to our strong lineup, providing our customers with more choices that our customers appreciate.'
It remains to be seen how many of their customers in the New York area will appreciate the unfiltered conspiracy theorist who has claimed the Obama administration will kill 10 percent of the population.
According to the Huffington Post Beck left Fox News under a cloud in June 2011 after claims that advertisers were dropping his show like a hot coal and rumors of his clashes with management.
A Fox News told Politico's Mike Allen this week:
'Glenn Beck wasn't trying to save his soul, he was trying to save his ass. Advertisers fled his show and even Glenn knows what that means in our industry. Yet, we still tried to give him a soft landing. Guess no good deed goes unpunished.'
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