Gaylord Entertainment’s Cmt International Boosts Subscriber Total To 2.7 Million With New Coverage In Brazil, Extends Australian Agreement
In Brazil, CMT Brasil, the company’s customized Portuguese-language feed, has added 308,000 subscribers through an agreement with Net Brasil, which has 1.6 million total subscribers and is that nation’s largest operator of cable and satellite TV service. CMT International’s new Brazilian subscribers are served by SKY, a digital satellite service.
With the addition of SKY, CMT Brasil reaches more than one-third of the almost three million cable and satellite homes in Brazil. CMT Brasil also is seen on DirecTV and on TV Abril’s cable systems.
“We are excited and encouraged by our relationship with Net Brasil and by the new viewers we have on SKY. We look forward to increasing our subscribers even more through Net Brasil’s cable systems,” said Cindy Wilson, vice president and general manager of CMT International.
CMT Brasil’s programming focuses on American and Brazilian country music and country lifestyles. It features major North American country music artists such as Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson and Shania Twain, plus sertanejo (Brazilian country music) performers such as Leonardo, Chitãozinho & Xororó and Zezé di Camargo & Luciano.
“We introduced CMT Brasil to meet the demand of our subscribers. We now have a channel dedicated exclusively to musical styles that attract more and more fans,” said Renato Cavion, commercial director of SKY.
On the other side of the world, CMT International has renewed its carriage agreement with Australian cable and satellite TV company Foxtel. Foxtel, which has 500,000 subscribers, provides the customized 24-hour feed of CMT Pacific Rim as part of its basic cable and satellite service.
CMT Pacific Rim reaches all Australian cable and satellite TV homes, which now number more than one million. CMT Pacific Rim, also carried by Optus Vision and Austar Entertainment, is the only music channel available to all Australian cable and satellite TV homes.
Brazil and Australia are of particular interest to CMT International because both of those nations have demonstrated a strong interest in American country music.
Gaylord Entertainment Company is a diversified entertainment company operating in three business segments: hospitality and attractions; broadcasting and music; and cable networks. Among its properties are WSM radio and the Grand Ole Opry, the Opryland Hotel, Opryland Productions, Acuff-Rose Music Publishing, Word Entertainment, Z Music Television, Country Music Television International, the Wildhorse Saloon and the Ryman Auditorium.