NEW YORK (September 17, 2014) – Knockout Licensing today announced a licensing deal with Nashville-based Opry Entertainment Group that will bring officially licensed merchandise for the hit television show NASHVILLE to the Grand Ole Opry and other Opry Entertainment retail locations throughout the country music capital.
“We love how country music landmarks such as The Grand Ole Opry and Wyman Auditorium have been incorporated into the fabric of the show,” said Opry Entertainment Director of Retail Kim O’Dell. “Opry Entertainment already enjoys many strong connections to the NASHVILLE television series so this deal is a natural extension of that.”
The deal grants Opry Entertainment the right to utilize assets from the NASHVILLEtelevision series to produce a broad range of t-shirts, accessories, gift items and other products be sold exclusively at Opry Entertainment retail locations.
“Grand Ole Opry is such an important landmark to NASHVILLE and the entire country music scene,” said Knockout Licensing Co-President Tamra Knepfer. “This relationship helps ensure that fans of the show and other visitors to the city of Nashville will find a great assortment of officially licensed NASHVILLE products in Opry’s retail venues.”
NASHVILLE is a critically acclaimed American television drama series co-produced by ABC Studios and Lionsgate Television Group.  The show follows the lives of country music legend Rayna Jaymes (played by actress Connie Britton), ambitious pop starlet Juliette Barnes (played by actress Hayden Panettiere), and their intertwined circles of fellow musicians, business associates, family, and friends – including naïve but promising singer-songwriter Scarlett O’Connor (played by Clare Bowen) and talented but troubled musician Deacon Claybourne (played by Charles Esten) among others – as they navigate life on tour and the sometimes Machiavellian musical and business landscape of country music capital Nashville, Tennessee. NASHVILLE was renewed by ABC for a full third season (22 episodes) to begin airing September 24.

About ABC Studios
ABC Studios is a leader in the development, production and strategic distribution of entertainment content across broadcast and emerging digital platforms. The studio is the key content provider for the ABC Entertainment Group, having produced multiple seasons of hit series, including “Scandal,” “Once Upon a Time,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Lost,” “Castle” and “Revenge”; as well as “Army Wives” for Lifetime and “Criminal Minds” for CBS.
About Lionsgate
Lionsgate is a leading global entertainment company with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, family entertainment, digital distribution, new channel platforms and international distribution and sales. Lionsgate currently has 28 television shows on 20 networks spanning its primetime production, distribution and syndication businesses, including such critically-acclaimed hits as the multiple Emmy Award-winning Mad Men and Nurse Jackie, the comedy Anger Management, the broadcast network series Nashville, the syndication successes Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, its spinoff Meet the Browns, For Better Or Worse, The Wendy Williams Show, Are We There Yet? and Orange Is The New Black.
About Opry Entertainment
Opry Entertainment®, a division of Ryman Hospitality Properties (NYSE: RHP), is a producer of multi-media entertainment experiences with primary interests in location-based entertainment and television and stage production. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, its core business segments include the world-famous Grand Ole Opry®, the historic Ryman Auditorium®, and legendary radio station 650 AM-WSM.    
About Knockout Licensing
Knockout Licensing is a full-service licensing agency for big name brands including British television drama Downton Abbey™; social media canine celebrity Boo, The World’s Cutest Dog™; best-selling book series turned popular television drama OUTLANDER™; American musical television drama NASHVILLE™; popular preschool television show Justin Time™; beloved family classic Little House on the Prairie®; theworld-renowned SINGER™ sewing brand; publishing sensation Fifty Shades of Grey™; the Smithsonian Institution Library Seed Catalog Collection, and more. Formed in 2012, Knockout Licensing is a joint venture between CopCorp Licensing and TK Brand Group.
 
CONTACT:  KNOCKOUT LICENSING
   Carole Postal                                 Tamra Knepfer
   cop@knockoutlicensing.com        tk@knockoutlicensing.com
   (212) 947-5958                             (212) 947-5958