The network's programming consists of country music oriented shows, western films and rural/blue collar themed material, featuring a mix of original and off-network shows sourced from Opry Entertainment Group (the owner of the Grand Ole Opry, and Gray Media's former joint venture partner in the channel's previous incarnation as an over-the-air digital subchannel).

Discovery joint venture Free TV Networks, which is led by broadcasting veteran Jonathan Katz.

[6] Gaylord Cable Networks took its stakes in TV Argentina and CMT International to launch the MusicCountry channel[7] in Mexico and Argentine in 2000.

Gaylord would subsequently rebrand CMT channels in Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Asia-Pacific region's areas to the MusicCountry brand.

[8] Towards the end of the 2010s, Ryman Hospitality Properties was looking to venture back into television, with its Opry Entertainment unit already having co-produced the dramatic series Nashville, along with the end of its partnerships to carry the Opry with CMT, then Great American Country, as their managements both shifted away from music programming and towards a more generic and broad-based focus on Southern culture.

In 2018, Ryman had settled on a broadcast television network and began pursuing starting one as they felt country music fans are underserved.

[9] On October 17, 2019, the joint venture partners would confirm that Gray-owned stations would be among the network's charter affiliates; they would also reveal on that date the network's name — Circle, which is a nod to the iconic 6-foot wooden section of stage at the Opry House (and that section's original home, Ryman Auditorium) on which various country stars have performed.

The terrestrial feed (which typically appeared as a digital subchannel of a major network affiliate station in numerous markets around the United States) aired classic movies and off-network syndicated programming, while the digital feed (distributed over streaming services such as Peacock and Roku) features more company-owned music-based programming.

On December 11, 2019, Circle Media announced that it had greenlit 16 original programs slated to debut on the network in Circle's first five months of operation, including a simulcast of WSM Radio's Coffee, Country & Cody (which had previously aired on competing country music-oriented multicast network Heartland),[13][14] and the music and interview series The Dailey and Vincent Show which moved from the show's prior four-year home, RFD-TV.

[15] and several docu-series (including Craig's World, a reality program centering on country artist Craig Morgan; Fandom, focusing on the artist-fan relationship in country music; Upstream, a fishing/interview program hosted by Elizabeth Cook; and several Grand Ole Opry-focused series such as Opry Debut).