Ticketmaster Inc

Ticketmaster charges sports fans and concert-goers handsomely for the convenience of buying tickets in advance. But now the company's online arm has found a way to deliver a little more convenience for the money. No, it's not cutting its service and handling charges, which add $6 or more to the price of a seat. Instead, it's starting to let consumers print their own tickets. This is a bit like the Federal Reserve letting people print their own currency.

Ticketmaster charges sports fans and concert-goers handsomely for the convenience of buying tickets in advance. But now the company's online arm has found a way to deliver a little more convenience for the money. No, it's not cutting its service and handling charges, which add $6 or more to the price of a seat. Instead, it's starting to let consumers print their own tickets. This is a bit like the Federal Reserve letting people print their own currency.

IAC/InterActiveCorp Chief Executive Barry Diller exercised stock options worth $183 million in 2007, and his salary was unchanged at $500,000, the company said in a regulatory filing. His compensation as calculated by Securities and Exchange Commission rules fell to $15.4 million from $17 million in 2006, the company said. He received no bonus, after getting $1.75 million in 2006. The company's 60 businesses include HSN, Ticketmaster Inc. and Ask.com.

Extending a Gloved Hand: Food banks and a youth symphony are among the beneficiaries of an unusual settlement with Michael Jackson over some concerts the entertainer canceled in the Tacoma Dome two years ago. Jackson, Ticketmaster Inc. and the City of Tacoma, Wash., agreed Wednesday to contribute $32,500 each to Northwest Harvest and the Seattle Youth Symphony.

Ticket seller Ticketmaster Inc. said it narrowed its third-quarter net loss to $49.4 million from $51.2 million a year earlier. The company said that despite event cancellations in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, it posted $14 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization--a key performance measure among media companies. Last year's EBITDA was $2.7 million, Ticketmaster said. The Los Angeles-based company said revenue rose 7.1% to $157.5 million.

Ticketmaster Group Inc. of Los Angeles purchased the remaining 50% of Ticketmaster-Northwest for $12.6 million, giving it full ownership of the venture as part of its plan to consolidate its main business by buying out its partially owned entities.

A food bank and a youth symphony will be getting $32,500 each thanks to a court settlement stemming from a series of concerts that Michael Jackson canceled. Attorneys Thomas Wampold and Aaron Haleva will also get a hefty $35,000 for their work representing ticket-buyers who sued over the canceled concerts in October and November 1988. Jackson said he was ill when he canceled the shows.

A Seattle Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that 72,000 Michael Jackson fans do not have to be notified individually that they are part of a class-action suit seeking service-fee refunds for three canceled Tacoma Dome concerts last fall. The decision, by King County Judge Jim Bates, reversed an earlier decision that said the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Ticketmaster Inc.

Resolving what USA Networks chief Barry Diller called their "short but slightly contentious" relationship, USA-owned Ticketmaster Inc. and live entertainment consolidator SFX Entertainment Inc. announced an exclusive, long-term agreement for Ticketmaster to sell tickets to all SFX events. In a statement, SFX Chairman Robert Sillerman suggested the arrangement could let SFX reduce ticket prices at some venues.

King World Productions said its shareholders voted to double the number of authorized shares outstanding to 150 million from 75 million and elected two new directors. The share move enables the distributor of syndicated television shows to proceed with a previously declared stock split, payable Feb. 17 to holders of record on Feb. 3. King World said shareholders elected Fredric Rosen, president and chief executive of Ticketmaster Inc., and philanthropist Raymond Chambers to the board.

Ticket seller Ticketmaster Inc. warned it expects to report third-quarter revenue below forecasts because of concerts and other events that were canceled and/or postponed after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But the company said, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it was encouraged by the ticketing segment's strong performance in the last week of the quarter, although the ultimate effect of the attacks was not clear.