THE CMA AWARDS COMES TO ITS NEW HOME ON ABC

Awards Will Air Live November 6 for the First Time on ABC

Super Duo Brooks & Dunn Will Host the Gala for the Third Consecutive Year

Country Music�s Biggest Night and the number one music awards show on television, �The 40th Annual CMA Awards� will air for the first time on ABC, MONDAY NOVEMBER 6. The Awards will be broadcast live (8:00-11:00 p.m., ET) from the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, TN.

Super duo Brooks & Dunn will host the festivities for the third consecutive year and are back at the helm with their endearing blend of humility and humor. Since blasting onto the scene with their No. 1 debut single, �Brand New Man� in 1991, Brooks & Dunn have had 23 No. 1 singles, sold more than 28 million albums and picked up 15 CMA Awards, including Entertainer of the Year in 1996. They hold 13 CMA Vocal Duo of the Year Awards � a record for the category.

�ABC is passionate about our partnership with Country music, and we are thrilled and honored to have the CMA Awards on our network. As one of the biggest events on television, the CMA Awards� value to us as a marquee event is enormous, as the Awards joins the lineup of our two other premiere award specials, the Oscars and the American Music Awards,� said Andrea Wong, executive vice president, Alternative Series, Specials and Late-Night, ABC Entertainment. �To debut with the 40th anniversary is a historic occasion and a special opportunity for us to showcase our commitment to further enhancing and building the CMA Awards in the years to come.�

�It�s our 40th Anniversary and we are ready to make this the most outstanding Awards broadcast to date,� said CMA Chief Operating Officer Tammy Genovese. �We are back in Nashville after our very successful excursion to New York City in 2005; Brooks & Dunn are back as hosts, after doing an incredible job the past two years; and we are looking forward to tapping into the creativity and enthusiasm of our new network partner, ABC.�

�The 40th Anniversary should be an amazing show,� said Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn. �Everybody�ll be there � just like New York. You have that many distractions and everybody forgets how many times you screw up!�

�We�re pushing our luck,� partner Ronnie Dunn deadpanned.

The CMA Awards were first broadcast in 1968, making them the longest running annual music awards program on network television. The first four broadcasts were on NBC, and for the past 34 years the show has been on the CBS Television Network. This year it moves to ABC. The show is traditionally one of the Top 5 highest-rated award programs of the year, with more than 36 million people watching all or part of �The 39th Annual CMA Awards.� The most recent CMA Awards telecast during the 2005 November Sweep (11/15/05) ranked behind only the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes during the 2005-06 Season for award shows among Total Viewers. �The 39th Annual CMA Awards� qualified as the most-watched (17.7 million) TV program on the night of its broadcast, while winning its three-hour time period in the key Adult 18-49 sales demographic (5.4/13).

�The 40th Annual CMA Awards� is a production of the Country Music Association. Walter C. Miller is the executive producer and Robert Deaton is the consulting producer.