Circle Country
Circle Country, previously known as Circle, is a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service owned by Circle Media, LLC, a joint venture of Ryman Hospitality Properties, a subsidiary of Opry Entertainment Group. The network's programming consists of country music oriented shows, and rural/blue collar themed material, featuring a mix of original and off-network shows. Previously before 2024, the network was available primarily through the digital subchannels of broadcast television stations, as well as an ad-supported video-on-demand channel on Peacock and Stirr, along with national carriage on Dish Network and Sling TV. Cable television and IPTV providers were offered either the network's local affiliate, or the network's national feed on their systems. Circle Media is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, with offices at Ryman's E.W. Wendell Building and production facilities inside the Grand Ole Opry House. The network's flagship station was Gray's WSMV-DT5, a st ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Over-the-top Media Services
An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms: the types of companies that traditionally act as controllers or distributors of such content. It has also been used to describe no-carrier cellphones, for which all communications are charged as data, avoiding monopolistic competition, or apps for phones that transmit data in this manner, including both those that replace other call methods and those that update software. The term is most synonymous with subscription-based video on demand (SVoD) services that offer access to film and television content (including existing shows and movies for which rights have been acquired from the content owner, as well as original content produced specifically for the service). OTT also encompasses a wave of "skinny" television services that offer access to live streams of linear specialty channels, similar to a traditional s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Country Music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, old-time, and American folk music forms including Appalachian, Cajun, Creole, and the cowboy Western music styles of Hawaiian, New Mexico, Red Dirt, Tejano, and Texas country. Country music often consists of ballads and honky-tonk dance tunes with generally simple form, folk lyrics, and harmonies often accompanied by string instruments such as electric and acoustic guitars, steel guitars (such as pedal steels and dobros), banjos, and fiddles as well as harmonicas. Blues modes have been used extensively throughout its recorded history. The term ''country music'' gained popularity in the 1940s in preference to ''hillbilly music'', with "country music" being used today to describe many styles and subgenres. It came to encompas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
WSM (AM)
WSM (650 kHz) is a 50,000-watt clear channel AM radio station located in Nashville, Tennessee. It broadcasts a full-time country music format (with classic country and Americana leanings, the latter of which is branded as "Route 650") at 650 kHz and is known primarily as the home of the ''Grand Ole Opry'', the world's longest running radio program. The station's clear channel signal can reach much of North America and nearby countries, especially late at night. It is one of two clear-channel stations in North America, along with CFZM in Toronto, that still primarily broadcast music; as recently as 2020, the station was live and locally originated during the overnight hours, but the overnight host position was eliminated in February 2020. Nicknamed "The Air Castle of the South," it spawned two sister stations on newer mediums: WSM-FM, and television Channel 4 (originally WSM-TV, and now WSMV), both of which were later sold separately. WSM-FM is no longer affiliated wi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
WSMV-TV
WSMV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power Telemundo affiliate WTNX-LD (channel 15). The two stations share studios on Knob Road in west Nashville, where WSMV-TV's transmitter is also located. History Early years WSMV first signed on the air as WSM-TV on September 30, 1950, at 1:10 p.m. CT. It was Nashville's first television station and the second in Tennessee, behind fellow NBC affiliate WMCT (now sister station WMC-TV, then also on channel 4) in Memphis. As a result of the WSM-TV sign-on, WMCT was forced to switch to channel 5 to avoid co-channel interference. WSM-TV was owned by WSM, Inc., a subsidiary of the locally based National Life and Accident Insurance Company, which also owned WSM radio (650 AM) and the original WSM-FM (103.3; shut down in 1951); the AM station is renowned for broadcasts of the country music show ''The Grand Ole Opry'', which h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Flagship (broadcasting)
In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyalty to a network or station. This includes both direct network feeds and broadcast syndication, but generally not backhauls. Not all networks or shows have a flagship station, as some originate from a dedicated radio or television studio. The term derives from the naval custom where the commanding officer of a group of naval ships would fly a distinguishing flag. In common parlance, "flagship" is now used to mean the most important or leading member of a group, hence its various uses in broadcasting. The term ''flagship station'' is primarily used in TV and radio in the United States and Canada, while the term is primarily used in TV in Japan (and formerly in the United States). Examples Lotteries * Mega Millions, normally from WSB-TV i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Grand Ole Opry House
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a division of Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc.), it is the longest-running radio broadcast in US history. Dedicated to honoring country music and its history, the Opry showcases a mix of famous singers and contemporary chart-toppers performing country, bluegrass, Americana, folk, and gospel music as well as comedic performances and skits. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world and millions of radio and internet listeners. In the 1930s, the show began hiring professionals and expanded to four hours. Broadcasting by then at 50,000 watts, WSM made the program a Saturday night musical tradition in nearly 30 states. In 1939, it debuted nationally on NBC Radio. The Opry moved to a permanent home, the Ryman Audit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the fourth most populous city in the southeastern U.S. Located on the Cumberland River, the city is the center of the Nashville metropolitan area, which is one of the fastest growing in the nation. Named for Francis Nash, a general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, the city was founded in 1779. The city grew quickly due to its strategic location as a port on the Cumberland River and, in the 19th century, a railroad center. Nashville seceded with Tennessee during the American Civil War; in 1862 it was the first state capital in the Confederacy to be taken by Union forces. After the war, the city reclaimed its position and developed a manufacturing base. Since 1963, Nashville has had a consolidated city-coun ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
IPTV
Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded media, IPTV offers the ability to stream the source media continuously. As a result, a client media player can begin playing the content (such as a TV channel) almost immediately. This is known as streaming media. Although IPTV uses the Internet protocol it is not limited to television streamed from the Internet (Internet television). IPTV is widely deployed in subscriber-based telecommunications networks with high-speed access channels into end-user premises via set-top boxes or other customer-premises equipment. IPTV is also used for media delivery around corporate and private networks. IPTV in the telecommunications arena is notable for its ongoing standardisation process (e.g., European Telecommunications Standards Institute). IPTV ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Cable Television
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadcast television (also known as terrestrial television), in which the television signal is transmitted over-the-air by radio waves and received by a television antenna attached to the television; or satellite television, in which the television signal is transmitted over-the-air by radio waves from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth, and received by a satellite dish antenna on the roof. FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephone services, and similar non-television services may also be provided through these cables. Analog television was standard in the 20th century, but since the 2000s, cable systems have been upgraded to digital cable operation. A "cable channel" (sometimes known as a "cable network") is a telev ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Dish Network
DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. Additionally, Dish offers mobile wireless service, Dish Wireless. On July 1, 2020, Dish acquired prepaid service Boost Mobile and intends to add postpaid service as well in the future. Based out of unincorporated Douglas County, Colorado the company has approximately 16,000 employees. History In January 2008, EchoStar Communications Corporation, which was founded by Charlie Ergen as a satellite television equipment distributor in 1980, changed its name to DISH Network Corporation and spun off its technology arm as a new company named EchoStar Corporation. The company had begun using DISH Network as its consumer brand in 1996, after the launch of its first satellite, EchoStar I, in December 1995. That launch marked the beginning o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Stirr
Stirr is an American ad-supported video streaming service owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. The streaming service is available on the web and via apps for iOS, Android devices and various streaming TV devices, including Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, and Android TV. Stirr's slogan is, "the new free TV." History Sinclair Broadcast Group began developing its technological infrastructure for the service before July 2017. The Stirr streaming service was announced by Sinclair in October 2018. Sinclair hired Scott Ehrlich to head up the service and hired staff in Los Angeles and Seattle. Ehrlich is the Vice President of Emerging Platform Content at Sinclair. Stirr was launched on January 16, 2019 via a website and apps for iPhones, Android devices and various streaming TV devices, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku. With the pending acquisition of the Fox Sports Networks, Sinclair indicated that they were looking at synergies between Stirr and those RSNs. Channels Stirr draws ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Video On Demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of over-the-air programming was the most common form of media distribution. As Internet and IPTV technologies continued to develop in the 1990s, consumers began to gravitate towards non-traditional modes of content consumption, which culminated in the arrival of VOD on televisions and personal computers. Unlike broadcast television, VOD systems initially required each user to have an Internet connection with considerable bandwidth to access each system's content. In 2000, the Fraunhofer Institute IIS developed the JPEG2000 codec, which enabled the distribution of movies via Digital Cinema Packages. This technology has since expanded its services from feature-film productions to include broadcast television programmes and has led to lower ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |