New York -- Despite a nearly four-month window,
Viewer's Choice said it expects a solid performance from the April 3 The Paris
Concert for Amnesty International: The Struggle Continues pay-per-view music
concert.
The three-hour event, which will retail at a suggested
price of $20.95, celebrates the 50th anniversary of The Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. The event will feature an impressive list of artists such as Bruce
Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, Jimmy Page and Alanis Morissette, concert organizers said.
The concert took place Dec. 10, but industry executives
believe that the extended window will not hurt interest in the show.
"Unless you were in Paris, you didn't see the
event," said Michael Klein, senior vice president of programming for Viewer's
Choice. "This is a first exhibition of the concert, and we expect a strong
performance."
The concert will mark the fourth PPV-music event this year,
following February's Backstreet Boys; a Rock and Rockets concert featuring
rock 'n' roll veterans Kenny Loggins, The B-52's, 10,000 Maniacs and Better
than Ezra; and a March John Michael Montgomery concert.
But while the popular Backstreet Boys were able to draw an
impressive 135,000 buys, PPV history has shown that most concerts rarely generate as many
as 100,000.
Nevertheless, Klein believes that the concert business is
on an upswing, and that it could generate some decent revenues for operators.
"I think that music events seem to be making their way
back to PPV. We've seen an increased interest in PPV-music events from program
suppliers, and I would like to see the trend continued in the future," Klein said.
The Amnesty concert is sponsored worldwide by The Body Shop
International plc and domestically by Best Buy Co. Inc., concert organizers said.
