Comcast-Spectacor has signed a letter of intent to purchase Paciolan Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based self-ticketing subsidiary of Ticketmaster Entertainment for an undisclosed sum.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The sale is a condition of the recently approved merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation Inc. The U.S. Dept. of Justice cleared the move on the condition that Paciolan be sold within 60 days. In addition, Ticketmaster must also license a copy of its primary ticketing software to Anschutz Entertainment, the nation's second largest concert promoter.
According to a report in the Philadelphia Business Journal, the sale would give Comcast-Spectacor Paciolan's technology, intellectual property and 200 accounts with venues for which it sells tickets. Comcast-Spectacor already has 50 such accounts through its New Era Tickets subsidiary, which sold about 10 million tickets last year.
Comcast-Spectacor is a joint venture between a private investor and Philadelphia-based MSO Comcast. In addition to New Era, Comcast-Spectacor owns the National Hockey League Philadelphia Flyers, the National Basketball Association Philadelphia 76ers, the two arenas in which their teams play (Wachovia Center and Wachovia Spectrum,) four Flyers Skate Zone community ice skating and hockey rinks and Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. Comcast-Spectacor is also the principal owner of Global Spectrum, the fastest-growing firm in the public assembly management field with more than 60 facilities throughout the United States and Canada; Ovations Food Services, a food and beverage service provider; Front Row Marketing Services, a commercial rights sales company; and 3601 Creative Group, a full-service in-house advertising agency. In a partnership with Disson Skating, Comcast-Spectacor annually produces 10 nationally televised figure skating spectaculars on NBC.
