As odious a human being as Glenn Beck is, the man is brilliant in his way. His decision a year ago to break with Fox News, move from New York to North Texas, and launch an Internet-only TV station seemed a dubious bet. The cable network is, after all, the leading outlet for right-wing talking heads, and Beck is only one person. A very loud, bombastic person with a hard core of devoted followers, but surely that wasn't enough to make up for the audience he'd be losing.
Oh, but it was. Beck managed to pull in $80 million through his media empire, and his reliably silly diatribes have continued to ripple across the Internet with at least as much force as they did when he was on Fox. Score one for Beck and one for the power of new media.
Beck's farewell to television, it turns out, was only temporary. As the New York Times reports this morning -- and as Beck's website confirms, starting today at 5 p.m., Beck's streaming online network, TheBlaze TV, will be offered on Dish Network.
TheBlaze TV, an Internet television network, will remain available via the Web for its 300,000 paying subscribers, including those not subscribing to Dish. But the distribution deal with Dish gives Mr. Beck, formerly a host on Fox News, a new way to reach viewers that may be adopted by other Internet entrepreneurs seeking a way into traditional television."Our success over the past year has given us the ability to go on traditional television while maintaining complete creative control and freedom and remaining at the center of the Internet revolution," Mr. Beck said.
Dish is only the beginning, however, as Beck is seeking distribution to all of America's 100 million cable subscribers. And world domination, of course.