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RSSUnited Press International
E.W. Scripps Co. has bought the Great American Country network that has carried the Grand Ole Opry Live radio broadcasts every Saturday since 1925.
The broadcast from Nashville is the longest-running radio show in American history. Excerpts are carried each week on cable television.
A spokesman for Scripps, a major newspaper and communications corporation, said it had paid Jones Media Networks Ltd. $140 million in cash for GAC.
Scripps already owns four other lifestyle cable channels: Home & Garden Television, Food Network, Fine Living and the Do It Yourself network. It also operates the Shop at Home Network.
Scripps said GAC currently has an audience of 34 million radio and television households.