The Grand Ole Opry’s Circle Network to “Wind Down”
When The Circle Network launched on January 1st, 2020 as a joint venture between Gray Television and the Grand Ole Opry’s parent company Ryman Hospitality, everyone had big hopes that it would see the grand return of true country music to television. Along with 16 original shows, the network’s Opry Live presentation each week spelled the re-emergence of the Grand Ole Opry on the small screen, even if in a limited capacity.
Some of the network’s programming will continue in other locations in the digital world, but in a 3rd Quarter financial report released on November 6th, Ryman Hospitality and Gray Television let it be known that the linear Circle TV network along with their partnership will “wind down” on December 31st, 2023. The network is currently available in over 100 markets.
The report says, “In September 2023, we determined to pivot from television network ownership in favor of a distribution approach. Therefore, we and our joint venture partner agreed to wind down the Circle joint venture, with operations expected to cease December 31, 2023. As a result, we incurred a loss related to Circle of approximately $10.6 million in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023.”
A spokesperson for Ryman Hospitality went on to say, “The Circle brand isn’t going away. The linear TV network will wind down at the end of the year along with the joint venture. Programming like ‘Opry Live’ and ‘Coffee, Country & Cody’ will continue to be produced and made available digitally on FAST, streaming and other digital distribution platforms. We also expect ‘Opry Live’ to air on network television, just not on a dedicated Circle network. Opry Live will also air on Sky Arts in the U.K.”
The Circle Network had a lot of promise at the beginning as a place for new country music programming and archive footage of previous Opry performances. It benefited from the pandemic when the Grand Ole Opry was one of the few productions that was allowed to continue, even though no crowds were in attendance. The “Circle” remained unbroken, and the Opry broadcasts through The Circle Network every Saturday night helped revitalize the Opry as an institution.
But Circle seemed to lose its way post-pandemic. Some of the original shows never saw second seasons. Most of the day was filled with network TV reruns. The long-planned return of Hee-Haw never happened, and Circle did little to tap the vast archives of Opry material for rebroadcast.
The writing was on the wall for The Circle Network after NBC Universal purchased a 30% stake in Ryman Hospitality in April of 2022. The partnership recently resulted in the People Choice Country Awards. Depsite the new partnership, we have yet to see actual Grand Ole Opry presentations make it onto NBC. Whether that will transpire in the future remains to be seen.
Exactly what will happen to The Circle app where many people streamed shows also remains a question. Opry Live and Coffee, Country & Cody will be available on FAST, and Ryman Hospitality insists The Circle Network will still exist, just not in TV form. But it feels like the big opportunity to give a home to The Grand Ole Opry on the television once again is over. Just how significant the effort will be to keep it alive in the digital world remains to be seen.
November 12, 2023 @ 8:23 am
NBC should air the Saturday Night Opry during their linear broadcast primetime schedule.
Live entertainment would do well on Network TV on Saturdays
November 12, 2023 @ 9:30 am
It would get murdered by live sports. Especially during the fall when College Football is going on, but also when it goes head-to-head with Saturday Night NBA games or when the NFL playoffs are going on.
Networks have 2 options when it comes to Saturday night tv. You either dive into the live sports waters or you run the cheapest programming possible that you don’t really care if anyone watches or not (see the crime shows and reality shows that populate Friday/Saturday night network TV).
I just don’t think the audience is there for live entertainment programming anymore. Our consumption of entertainment is too fractured (for better or worse) for that kind of programming to make any impact. You could pull that off in the 60’s and 70’s when people had 3 network options and before the internet, but you can’t pull it off in 2023.
People have too many options and if they don’t like the artist or bands playing that night, will fire up YouTube and watch the ones they do like instead of sitting through 1-2 hours of stuff they have no interest in.
November 12, 2023 @ 2:35 pm
Last year NBC aired “Password” repeats on Saturday nights.
If NBC doesnt have the Saturday night Sports contract — then live music entertainment would do better than repeats of game shows or repeats of The Voice
November 12, 2023 @ 2:38 pm
Airing the Opry shows would be very cheap for NBC. Cause the Opry records every show regardless for their youtube livestreams.
Just give NBC a live feed too. It would likely cost NBC not much at all
November 12, 2023 @ 9:41 pm
It’s a shame it didn’t work but I think it was because they weren’t trying hard enough to get to their audience. A couple of obstacles were ease of access and little to no advertising. If you knew about it, it was hard to get (mostly via antenna TV)…and you had to want to do that. I’m a fan so I did, but it was not EZ. Country music programming will work. Look at the numbers RFD TV did a few years ago when they had their Saturday night programming basically running old music programming from the 60s and 70s. Before they went to a pay service, RFD TV was where you had to go for good country music. Circle TV was supposed to be there for, as Merle would say, “the working man.” Its just a matter of how you package and provide the info to the consumer. I think the lack of success of Circle TV can be chocked up to some Dude in a suit making/meeting a milestone on a chart during Covid and then never going back to manage the project properly. Give a fan of the music the ability to program the channel and I guarantee folks will know there is something new in town.
November 12, 2023 @ 11:07 pm
NBC could air the Saturday-night Opry, but wouldn’t necessarily have to air it on Saturday night (or mention “Saturday” in the show itself). Regardless, for a network TV audience, the Opry would need to program a weekly showcase of the best of the best talents in country music. But as others have said, because country has become such a broad church, and because audiences have so many other entertainment options nowadays, it would be challenging to program a show that had something for everybody but not too much of anything that anybody didn’t like. Producers of country music awards shows have a similar challenge.
November 13, 2023 @ 6:57 am
Every Sat night opry show is quite diverse.
They usually feature 1 member and at least one old timer. One newer kid etc etc.
Ex: Pam Tillis, Chris Janson , & some guy you never heard of
November 12, 2023 @ 8:36 am
Until someone gets serious about country music as television programming like they did at The Nashville Network, none of these OTT channels are gonna survive for very long.
The problem with that is, nobody wants to spend the money to create another TNN.
November 12, 2023 @ 9:43 am
There is also just so little money in that type of programming. I hate to say it, but it really is the case. The way we consume media and entertainment is just so fractured due to the internet. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but are the people who listen to Tyler Childers or Zach Bryan gonna tune in to the Opry or similar programming when they are sandwiched between Jelly Roll and Morgan Wallen?
I suspect the answer to that is a hard no. And if you move to a “Country Music lifestyle” channel, you are basically courting suburbanites with that programming at this point, and that group is cutting the cord as they typically have broadband access that rural America doesn’t.
The window to try and launch a venture like that was 5 years ago, when streaming was still growing and money was plentiful to invest in entertainment on the lending side. Now, I think it’s just too frozen. The big streaming companies are struggling with subscriber growth, people are fatigued with subscriptions, and cord cutting continues to ramp up.
When a behemoth like Warner Bros-Discovery or Disney is complaining about how difficult it is to make money in entertainment now, I don’t know what prayer a niche programming slice like Country Music programming has.
November 12, 2023 @ 3:12 pm
Yes there’s still big audience for live TV and country. Or taped country. Look at RFDTV and Larry’s Country Diner. Diner did well for 14 yrs new shows. Unfortunately it now airs reruns too. I would have loved to watch Circle on TV but my provider won’t carry it. Our internet not good for streaming yet. They should reconsider Circle and convince NBC.
November 13, 2023 @ 6:33 pm
I think you are massively overstating how big an audience there is for live tv/live country music programming. It sure feels like every year we see a headline “ACM Awards post lowest ratings yet”. There is an audience for that content and RFD seems to do well enough to keep the lights on, but I don’t see it being enough to demand a network to air it.
November 12, 2023 @ 8:51 am
The fans that will actually watch Country Music on tv are the ones who want to watch Hee Haw, Country’s Family Reunion, Larrys Country Diner and classic Grand Ole Opry. Circle originally had Hee Haw, but played the same oddball episodes over and over every day at weird times. When I look at the program guide it’s filled with something called “Opry,” no clue what that is.
I hope they let RFD tv have Hee Haw back.
November 12, 2023 @ 2:17 pm
Preach brother. RFD treated Hee Haw way better than the Circle ever has. And they’d better let at least someone broadcast it because it’s getting harder and harder to find full episodes of. Even through my, ahem, alternative methods.
November 12, 2023 @ 9:26 am
This news is both shocking and sad, especially with NBCUniversal’s coffers. A $10 million loss in the media industry is nothing when you consider the over $3 billion in losses that NBCUniversal has incurred with Peacock. At first, the network seemed to understand what people wanted (original programming, actual live Oprys, reruns of classic country media such as Hee-Haw). However, as time went along, they cut back more and more (probably to prevent having to pay residuals and licensing), and the only “country” left is prerecorded Opry shows, Bill Cody’s morning show, and Clint Black’s interview show. To be fair, Circle debuted at the absolute worst time right before COVID, and with the current economic climate, it is no wonder they are struggling. If the timing had been better, if the programming had remained “country”, and if advertisers had found them more attractive, things could have ended up differently.
However, I will say that their YouTube streaming of Opry shows is much better than the network broadcasts, so it isn’t all bad going to FAST only.
November 12, 2023 @ 9:36 am
NBCUniversal is owned by Comcast and Comcast is getting hit on almost every side of their business right now with cord cutting. People are dumping cable at a higher rate every quarter it seems like, and even in Comcast’s incumbent areas they are getting hit with competition on the broadband side of things from T-Mobile and Verizon’s home internet offerings and smaller Fiber broadband providers coming in and competing with them using superior network technology.
I agree that $10 million is “nothing” for them relative to Peacock, but the difference I suspect is they view Peacock as a loss leader that they (hope) will payoff for them in the future. I’m not sure what the future was for Circle. It was unlikely it was ever going to grow substantially and even if it had trimmed losses, I just suspect the ceiling was too low for NBCU to justify continued investment in. Especially when shareholders are likely wanting to see them trim any and all fat on their sheets with faced with declining subscriber numbers on the cable and broadband side of things.
November 12, 2023 @ 11:23 am
All good points; the cable TV business is the shackle that keeps Comcast (and, in turn, NBCUniversal) struggling. Paramount Global’s rousing success with Pluto and other FAST avenues shows how those platforms can breathe new life into classic franchises. Then again, Paramount Global has that flexibility since they don’t provide cable TV service. With FAST, Comcast has to weigh the pros and cons of cutting their legs out from under them, though the fresh injection of cash from Disney buying their stake of Hulu may help in the short term.
November 12, 2023 @ 9:38 am
Wish someone would air That Nashville Music and Hee Haw.
November 12, 2023 @ 9:43 am
Part of the problem is that a lot of the “country” shows you can’t do because of either The Confederate Battle Flag being prominent (Dukes of Hazzard, BJ and the Bear) , there isn’t a market because it’s an obvious product of its time (Petticoat Junction and Beverly Hillbillies) or there are distribution issues (King of the Hill is no longer syndicated and Blue Collar Comedy has contracts with WB and Comedy Central). So what you’re left with are The Andy Griffith Show first five seasons (the ones aired in Black and White because very few people want to see the episodes filmed in color) Hee-Haw and shows like Reba, Mama’s Family and Rosanne that can be seen on other networks.
If the Opry wanted The Circle Network to be a success, then they needed to figure out a way to modernize country shows without it being alienating or being a product of its time. One of the reasons The Andy Griffith Show is still being broadcast 55 years after it ended in 1968 is due to Griffith wisely going the timeless route at the behest of producer Sheldon Leonard and Aaron Rueben. If they had gone that route along with solid performances classic tapings and comedy that wasn’t Diet Ernest T Bass (i have a friend who despite being a huge fan of classic country music and bluegrass swore off one of RFDTV’s shows because he got so irritated at the diet Ernest T Bass comic relief he wanted to see him replace Ned Beatty in the pig squealing scene in Deliverance) it could’ve worked.
November 12, 2023 @ 9:58 am
The Opry could partner with YouTube or Rumble or both and become a regular live streaming entity. It gives the Opry a platform until something else comes along.
November 12, 2023 @ 10:28 am
A new Zach Bryan is dropping soon, so there’s that at least.
November 12, 2023 @ 10:52 am
Hate this. Only watched… maybe ten minutes a week but always looked to see what was airing. Had the app on my Roku, too. No doubt it was a financial drain. Didn’t see this coming today.
November 12, 2023 @ 11:03 am
What a relief! Circle was rather disappointing and actually hard for real country fans who would use such a network to access and I think taking heehaw FROM RFD gave them a sour taste to some fans
It didn’t live up to expectations and now let’s see if hee haw goes back to RFD
November 12, 2023 @ 11:36 am
I call BS! I loved it! RIP The Circle Network!
November 12, 2023 @ 3:50 pm
I would love to see an updated version of The Nashville network come back. There are so many shows that could be on the network, not just repeats of Andy Griffith and the millionth showing of “Pretty Woman.” A new version of “Nashville Now,” “Crook and Chase,” a few lifestyle shows, Nashville restaurants, Tennessee tourism, Dollywood, videos (CMT seemed to forget to show a video every now and then), repeats of all of the shows that Gaylord Entertainment has in its bank, etc.
November 12, 2023 @ 3:53 pm
I have it on one of my TV apps. It was ok but they didn’t show the Opry live as far as I could tell. Just some pre-recorded performances. And some Austin City Limits reruns, which is cool content, but like, what’s the point of the channel? It’s the Circle channel but you can’t even watch the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night? *shrug* Not surprised to hear it’s closing shop.
November 12, 2023 @ 4:44 pm
Thank God for you tube. I spend hrs watching the old and real country stars is HANK. PRICE Tubbs Buck. VAN Shelton. THE Hag. RAlph Syanley snd Monroe, And of course Geo JONES. And on and and on. This GARBAGE today can’t shine their boots
November 12, 2023 @ 6:22 pm
That’s too bad! I hope they can keep TALKING IN CIRCLES with Clint Black and Kyle Petty’s Diner Dirve shows! Great interviews with so many artists…they both had a good thing going!
November 12, 2023 @ 6:56 pm
This is sad. It makes me angry too. I live in an area that is very rural and am not able to have streaming services because I don’t have broadband Internet. We don’t have paid tv because so much of it is crap and not worth what you pay for it. I wish that all of these bigwigs would realize that not every has access to endless Internet. Streaming might be the future, but for some that is a very distant future. For my household, that’s probably 10 years before we can get broadband.
I admit that the programming shifted from a country focus, but at least from what I can see it was good family programming, with the exception of a few shows. I enjoy watching the Opry, even if I can’t catch it on Saturday night I could catch it later in the week. I really enjoy Clint Blacks Talking in Circles, and I love that they added Heartland and Longmire. I’m never home during the day, so I don’t know what they show. It would be nice if they didn’t put shows on at such weird times and go back to some of the old TNN programming, that was fantastic. There is so much potential for the channel. Too bad they are allowing a loss of income to sideline that potential. Maybe they need someone with a better vision for the channel in charge.
November 12, 2023 @ 8:26 pm
I didn’t see if it’s been mentioned, but someone has started a TNN channel on YouTube. They upload old episodes of Nashville Now, Country Standard Time, American Music Shop, etc. I have been watching some really good stuff on there recently. They update it with new (old) episodes very often.
November 12, 2023 @ 11:09 pm
There are simply too many other mediums that are better at winning peoples’ screen viewing time. I miss when Austin City Limit performances carried weight and when half the classic rock fans you met saw those Eric Clapton Crossroad Concert DVD’s. I don’t see how resurrecting an essentially dead medium will ever be successful. For something like this to succeed I’d imagine that they would have to be more modern like how the popular podcasts are.
Unless there is a successful version of a ‘modern Amish’ cult that rejects all tech post 1999. Then maybe it would work. I would join that movement.
November 13, 2023 @ 8:49 am
Only 4 shows of grand ole opry have been shown on sky art over England not every week and that was do with luke combs on tour over here
we have not had grand ole opry on tv over here since 2000 very poor
Also cma show shown last week was obout 3 hour usa bbc which only shown 1 hour here
November 13, 2023 @ 9:02 am
How about “The Unbroken Circle” network. All country artists performing gospel; or offering their testimony
of Faith.
November 13, 2023 @ 10:44 am
Love it, I’d definitely watch that.
November 13, 2023 @ 9:37 am
Missing from this discussion is that the suits (mostly based in NY) that run network & cable TV actually HATE country music. The only thing they hate more than country music is pre-2000 country music. They have NO interest in creating a country music-based cable network or scheduling sustaining country programming on major networks.
The reason that TNN & CMT were successful back in the day is that the owners & management of those networks loved and believed in their product. When those networks were sold to corporate interests the country programming was eventually phased-out and replaced with re-runs of network programs or reality shows.
To believe that the corporate network suits have had a change of heart and suddenly become country music fans of any stripe in 2023 and would consider scheduling country shows like the Opry even on their lowest viewership night of the week is a complete fantasy.
The Circle Network will now be held up as the poster child for the utter failure of that concept.
November 13, 2023 @ 11:21 am
I think the problem is more that network suits don’t like music period. MTV and VH1 have been primarily non-music now for more years than they were focused on music. AXS and other spinoff channels that tried to fill that void were largely niche products that became irrelevant once Youtube basically offered every kind of video music format available past and present on demand and even invented a few new ones (Daryl’s House, Tiny Desk Concerts, lyric videos, etc).
I grew up with the old entertainment models too and sometimes the simplicity is missed, but I’d still trade it any day for the variety we have now.
November 13, 2023 @ 9:52 am
I guess the circle is not unbroken.
November 13, 2023 @ 10:06 am
They need to just bring back the Nashville Network (TNN), and these are the shows they need to air:
-Grand Ole Opry
-Larry’s Country Diner
-Vintage classic episodes of:
-Hee Haw
-Nashville Now with Ralph Emery (1983-93)
-Crook & Chase
-Music City Tonight (1993-95)
-Prime Time Country (1995 -2000)
-New Country (1983-89)
-On Stage (1989-94)
-Austin City Limits
-The Life & Times Of
-Statler Brothers Show (1991-98)
-Marty Stuart Show
and others
-Air classic episodes of the Grand Ole Opry from the 1980s, 90s and early 2000s
-Air the old ACM and CMA Awards shows from the 1960s to the 2000s
-Also air classic Country music videos from the 1980s and 90s, and Southern Gospel & Contemporary Christian music videos from the 1980s and 90s
Also, make the channel available everywhere, not just certain markets
Wonder if Garth Brooks could make this happen? He’s got the $ to
November 13, 2023 @ 12:10 pm
I was poor growing up and my mom couldn’t afford cable until 2000, so I barely got TNN but I wish when they merged TNN and CMT that they would’ve kept the TNN model. Reair your shows but also bring in the TNN Outdoors aspect. I know there are plenty of channels that air hunting and fishing shows but there’s a market for that on a country music/lifestyle channel.
Another thing you could do is get some rights to some regional shows and fill air time with it (Texas Country Reporter, Kentucky Life, Kentucky Afield, etc.)
November 13, 2023 @ 5:28 pm
I’d watch a channel like that! Problem is there are so many legal hurdles (copyright protections, etc.) to re-showing music-based shows. Another thing the lawyers have ruined!
November 14, 2023 @ 7:19 pm
In my area there is a channel called “Heartland” .It is a sub-channel of WHNS-TV. It plays “Music City Tonight” and “Country Standard Time” on weeknights and on weekends you might see a “Music City News” awards show. I believe it is part of the Jim Owens Productions group. Most of the time, though, they play county music videos.
November 13, 2023 @ 1:20 pm
This is crappy news!!!! My dear friend Elizabeth Cook had a show on this network called Upstream with Elizabeth Cook and she’d fish with a singer or songwriter. It was a nice show
What I truly miss is how the old TNN used to be. When they started they were amazing. Everything country music…..the Opry every Saturday night. The shows Nashville Now and Crook & Chase. Then the channel took a turn, They started playing sports shows, tv reruns and movies…and it was like 1% music after that change happened.
Then the Outlaw Music Channel came out via Willie Nelson. I soooooooooo wish I could have gotten it but it was mainly on satellite tv. Then his channel went away.
Then RFD-TV came out….and of course my cable company wouldn’t program it into their lineup. I requested it for years and nothing. Now after having a $ 300-a-month bill for TV, internet, wifi, and my landline phone….I got rid of the TV and have gone with a Fire Stick. I couldn’t afford the TV anymore. I got it down to $53 which is much more affordable. But really with Circle going off the air at the end of December what do us Country Music loving fans have now? If I could get RFD-TV I’d be happy but that’s an extra charge. It’s not just right…and country music has gotten soooooooooooooo BIG lately. Oh well!!!!!!!!! Hopefully, something happens and the Circle Network reconsiders.
November 13, 2023 @ 3:28 pm
Love to see gac have some country stuff instead of old shows like it used to be when Bill Cody was on their with classic country
November 13, 2023 @ 3:49 pm
Even RFD has cut back on music programming.
Please bring back TNN!
November 13, 2023 @ 4:11 pm
No effort was made on their part whatsoever.
Ugly 144p Standard Definition shows on 4K HD antenna and Cable.
What a missed opportunity.
November 13, 2023 @ 6:25 pm
We could never get the Circle and it killed alot of stuff on RFD (ie Opry Encore, Hee Haw, and Daily & Vincent). Now out of nowhere D&V were back on RFD in September totally shit canning Opry Stars of the ’50s, the Gannoway show “not affiliated with the Opry”. Unfortunately totally turned us against Daley & Vincent because D&V < Ernest Tubb, Faron Young etc. If they would have replaced Daniel O'Donnell, back in their original slot, it would have been fine. I have no idea if the Circle played a role in The Jimmy Dean Show getting 86'd or not, but The Wilburns, Country Family Reunion (I suspect that was Larry Black's fault), and Joey & Rory were taken off too.
I think the NBC connection can only do harm. Their main "Country" connection is Jackass Shelton, as far as I know he's ridiculously still an Opry member, and they would probably make him like the host or something despite (thankfully) not setting foot on that stage in years. No thanks.
I so miss TNN, never knew how good we had it 🥺 Id take reruns of The George Jones Show, The Life & Times, Nashville Now, or Crook & Chase over anything on NBC (or ABC, CBS, etc)
November 14, 2023 @ 6:28 pm
TNN The Nasty Network, at least that is what Harold Reid called it during a concert I attended in 1999, the Statlers had the top rated cable show when it was canceled.