Glenn Beck to Return to TV as Dish Agrees to Carry His Online Network TheBlaze

2:18 AM PDT 9/12/2012 by Georg Szalai

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UPDATED: "TheBlaze has helped revolutionize television over the Internet, and now we are excited to bring the revolution back to traditional television," the former Fox News host says.

Conservative talk star Glenn Beck is ready to make his TV comeback.

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His online 24-hour news and information network TheBlaze and Dish Network said Wednesday that the network will come to television, with Dish the launch partner that will initially carry the network exclusively. TheBlaze is looking for similar arrangements with other pay TV operators.

Financial terms of the arrangement weren't disclosed.

The former Fox News star, who continues to have a strong radio presence, launched the online network a year ago as GBTV and quickly grew. TheBlaze, whose flagship is Beck's daily show, will be available to Dish subscribers who get the company's America's Top 250 channel package as of 5pm ET or a la carte for $5 a month, the companies said.

TheBlaze, which includes a mix of news reporting, curated content, opinion and entertainment, will also continue to be available directly through its online subscription platform on TheBlaze.com and various Internet-connected devices. A Dish subscription is not necessary online. The site has said it has about 300,000 paying subscribers who get charged $9.95 per month of $99.95 a year.

"TheBlaze has helped revolutionize television over the Internet, and now we are excited to bring the revolution back to traditional television," said Beck. "TheBlaze will be home to news, information and entertainment programming with the facts and stories people care about most and we look forward to kicking things off with Dish."

Christopher Balfe, CEO of TheBlaze, added: "At launch, our goal was to deliver TV over the Internet, not Internet TV. Twelve months later, we've succeeded beyond our wildest imagination with content that built one of the world's largest subscription streaming networks."

TheBlaze.com finished August with its best-ever month with more than 9 million unique visitors, the firm said.

"After being phenomenally successful with his online streaming network, we're pleased to host Glenn's return to broadcast TV, especially during this exciting and important political season," said Dish CEO and president Joseph Clayton. "With Glenn's return, Dish is truly the one stop for news, opinion and perspective across the full political spectrum."

TheBlaze said Wednesday it wants "to grow its slate of shows, which already includes an opinion show hosted by Andrew Wilkow, the reality show Independence USA, the kids show Liberty TreeHouse, the news show Real News and the comedy news show The B.S. of A." It added: "TheBlaze has attracted some of the best up-and-coming talent in news, information and opinion programming like Will Cain, S.E. Cupp, Lu Hanessian, Amy Holmes, Raj Nair, Brian Sack, Buck Sexton and Andrew Wilkow."