The eminent US film reviewer Roger Ebert is to return to US TV screens more than four years after a battle with cancer forced him to quit broadcasting.

Ebert left his long-running series At the Movies in 2006 after thyroid cancer in his throat left him unable to speak. He is now able to communicate via a specially designed computer program and will begin airing the syndicated new show, Roger Ebert presents At the Movies, in the New Year.

"After a long journey, our new programme is poised for its debut," Ebert wrote on his Chicago Sun-Times blog. "The show will play in primetime or prime access in many major markets."

Ebert also confirmed that his signature method of reviewing films – a thumbs up or a thumbs down – will be a part of the new show, which will feature contributions from a number of guest reviewers as well as himself.

He said: "I will be involved in all aspects, and will contribute regular segments of my own."

Ebert, the web's most-read film reviewer through his site rogerebert.com, first introduced the thumbs-up verdict on Siskel and Ebert and the Movies in 1986. The show ran until Gene Siskel's death in 1999, beginning a new run in 2000 as Ebert and Roeper and the Movies, with Ebert's fellow Sun-Times reviewer Richard Roeper on board.