Country programming has been expanding across TV, radio and digital platforms in recent years but following recent mainstream radio attention, ‘Total Country’ TV channel wants to take the country music video experience out of the niches and into the mainstream.
’Total Country’ will feature hot new country and classics from a 40-year video archive. Exclusive programmes recorded for launch month include shows with country stars The Shires, Angaleena Presley, Danielle Bradbery, Una Healy, The Wandering Hearts, Lindsay Ell, Aaron Watson & Ward Thomas. Plus there’ll be regular contributions from UK country presenters Baylen Leonard (pictured) & Chris Stevens.
The country genre is home to some of the best music talent, writing and performances on the planet. With a wealth of great music and rich video content the channel will be curated and programmed by the genre’s biggest fans and experts this side of the Atlantic and finally give a vast and under-served country audience a destination channel on UK Television.
After laying in the long grass as a sleeping giant for years, country music is finally breaking through into UK mainstream culture with rapid growth in engagement, consumption and recognition across all ages.
Breakout stars from across the Atlantic led the way in recent years with Taylor Swift, Kacey Musgraves, Lady Antebellum and Carrie Underwood achieving mainstream chart and radio success throughout the UK, creating a stage for UK country acts like The Shires & Ward Thomas to build on what has become one of the fastest growing music genres in Britain.
The “Nashville” TV show further fuelled the enthusiasm for Country Music in the UK, with the Nashville In Concert live tour selling out three Royal Albert Hall shows in 2017 and The O2, London in 2018.
Streaming has revolutionised access to music from across the world and revealed the truly global appeal of country. Five million U.K. adults listen to the genre on a regular basis and with streaming listening growing at nearly 100% year on year, the chart and airwaves have been filled with a rapid succession of hits from Florida Georgia Line, Brad Paisley, Maren Morris and Sam Hunt.
Far from just passively enjoying the music, UK country fans are leaning in with massive audiences attending live events like the three day sell-out C2C simultaneously held at the O2 in London, Glasgow and Dublin, demonstrating the huge demand from an actively engaged fan base.
‘Total Country’ launched November 1st on Sky 373.
