Cablevision Systems Corp. will add Glenn Beck’s network TheBlaze to its Optimum TV lineup in late May.
TheBlaze, Beck’s news, opinion and entertainment service, will be available to residential customers who subscribe to the Optimum Preferred, Silver and Gold levels of service. The channel will also be accessible for Optimum TV commercial customers with Optimum Business or Optimum Entertainment. All customers must have a cable box or CableCARD to receive the TheBlaze, which originally bowed as a streaming service GBTV in September 2011, before converting to a linear network a year later.
The deal, financial terms of which were not disclosed, marks the twelfth affiliate pact for TheBlaze, which also counts Dish Network and Blue Ridge Communications as distributors. The agreement gives the service, home to original news and opinion shows like Real News, Wilkow! and For the Record, late night comedy like The Wonderful World of Stu and B.S. of A., and the family-friendly Liberty Treehouse, its initial presence in metro New York.
“TheBlaze is the rare independent network that has a built-in passionate, engaged and rapidly expanding audience and therefore adds value to Optimum TV’s channel lineup. We are pleased to work with Cablevision to bring our network to Optimum TV customers,” said TheBlaze president of business development Lynne Costantini in announcing the deal.
Noted Bradley Feldman, Cablevision’s vice president of video product management: “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.”
