COLUMBIA, Md. — Jan. 22, 2020 — LTN® Global, the global leader in broadcast-quality IP video transport solutions, is providing fully managed, IP-based video transport for Circle, a newly launched 24/7 media network dedicated to the country music lifestyle experience. Created by Opry Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. and Gray Television, Inc., Circle relies on LTN for transmission of daily programming to television stations across the country. LTN also gives Circle the flexibility to deliver daily live shows.
“LTN enables flexible, highly reliable delivery of video streams in real time to stations that are broadcast into the homes of millions of Americans,” said David Burke, CTO and senior vice president at Gray Television. “TV broadcast content distribution is the first step for Circle. LTN has both the experience and technical resources to help us expand our market presence, delivering broadcast content across a wide network of distribution platforms serving content to America’s many country music fans.”
Pre-sales for Circle programming have reached over 90 affiliates across multiple station groups, and the total continues to rise. Circle is broadcast in markets covering more than 50 percent of U.S. TV households via an over-the-air digital multicast network and cable television providers.
The new channel features 16 original programs centered around artists and their music, hobbies, outdoor and offstage adventures, food, family, and friends. Circle also offers entertainment news, documentaries, and movies along with licensed programming and archival content. The program lineup includes Opry, which will feature Grand Ole Opry performances each week beginning in February; the return of the popular music and comedy sketch show “Hee-Haw”; and a variety of other shows highlighting country music stars of yesterday and today.
LTN’s existing footprint, within more than 600 local TV stations across the United States, allowed for deployment across the first 71 sites in fewer than 60 days. The company’s fully managed, IP terrestrial distribution network gives Circle a more agile and economical alternative to traditional satellite distribution, where high costs and limited capacity restrict the number and quality of program variants that can be delivered to viewers.
“IP-based video transport on the LTN Network enables distribution of Circle to a massive audience watching across different station groups,” said Chris Myers, CRO at LTN Global. “With our highly redundant, industry-leading 99.9999% transport reliability of video over IP with ultra-low 200ms latency, backed by 24/7/365 monitoring and our in-house network operations center, LTN is uniquely positioned to ensure consistent delivery of high-quality live video to broadcasters across the U.S. We’re very pleased to be working with Circle and to be supporting the growth of this exciting new network.”
Further information about LTN Global is available at www.ltnglobal.com.
More information about Circle is available at www.CircleAllAccess.com or on social media handles @CircleAllAccess.
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About LTN
LTN Global Communications enables world-class content creation, monetization, and distribution through a unified, optimized, and highly automated end-to-end workflow built on its family of industry-best technologies. The company’s modular service offering leverages LTN’s fully managed network for peerless, IP-based live video delivery; Niles Media production services and media processing, backed by a 24/7 network operations center; Crystal technology for control, monitoring, ad insertion, and media transformation; and Make.TV’s scalable, cloud-enabled video production platform for live and real-time video. With these unique technologies and resources, LTN brings its customers greater efficiency, agility, and creativity in delivering more content to more viewers.
About Circle Media, LLC
Circle Media, LLC is a media network dedicated to celebrating the country lifestyle and putting fans inside the circle of everything country. Circle offers entertainment news, documentaries, movies, archival, new and licensed programming, Grand Ole Opry performances, and more.
Based in Nashville, Circle includes a linear network as well as a companion over-the-top (OTT) premium entertainment service which will be coming in spring 2020. Circle is a joint venture between Opry Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. and Gray Television, Inc..
For more details and to find out if Circle is available in your market, please visit www.CircleAllAccess.com.
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Photo Caption: LTN® Global is providing fully managed, IP-based video transport for Circle, a newly launched 24/7 media network dedicated to the country music lifestyle experience.
