California-based Ticketmaster, part of Live Nation Entertainment, is the first company to enable new iOS 18 Apple Wallet event features that offer venue maps, parking details, recommended playlists from Apple Music, local weather and links to purchase merchandise, as well as location sharing to help find friends on arrival to live events. Venues and teams can also customize the Ticketmaster experience with links to their app or website so fans can get information about their events from Apple Wallet tickets. The app debuts with the Los Angeles Football Club home game at BMO Stadium on October 19. Continue reading Ticketmaster Debuts Apple Wallet iOS 18 Features for Events

Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing will be investigated, pledged UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy in response to protests by thousands of disappointed fans who failed to secure tickets to the Oasis reunion tour. Fans waiting in online Ticketmaster queues saw prices shoot up by as much as £200 before they were able to make a purchase. Thousands more reportedly couldn’t even access the site to buy tickets, resorting instead to ticket-resale sites in what is being described as the biggest concert debacle since Taylor Swift fans were frustrated by their attempts to use the service to purchase 2023 Eras Tour tickets. Continue reading Concert Ticket Dynamic Pricing Draws UK Government Scrutiny

The live event business is making further inroads with social apps, as Shazam pacts with Ticketmaster and TikTok integrates Eventbrite. Ticketmaster says artists can now link live events in Apple’s Shazam app, where they’ll appear when a user Shazams a track. The feature will work in the more than 30 countries where Ticketmaster operates. The Live Nation-owned company also has deals with Snap and TikTok, whose new alliance with Eventbrite allows event producers and TikTok users to embed Eventbrite links in-stream. Now the TikTok community can discover events and purchase tickets “without ever leaving the app.” Continue reading Ticketmaster and Eventbrite Harness the Power of Social Apps

TikTok has partnered with global concert ticketing agency AXS to help music lovers discover and buy tickets to live events in-app. The new feature, which is going live in the U.S., UK, Sweden and Australia, with more markets to follow, allows any TikTok “Certified Artist” to promote and sell tickets on the platform through AXS. The enhancement is designed to help TikTok artists “expand their audiences globally and build their careers, simply by allowing them to add their AXS event links to their videos before publishing,” according to TikTok. Since 2022, the short-form video platform has been in a venture with Ticketmaster. Continue reading TikTok Expands Its Ticketing Features in Global Deal with AXS

After launching a subscription-only music streaming service in territories around the world this past summer, TikTok is now moving into concerts and e-ticketing. The ByteDance company’s first live global music event will be “TikTok In The Mix,” featuring Cardi B, Niall Horan, Anitta and Charlie Puth, along with surprise guests and new artists from the TikTok Elevate program. Taking place December 10 at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona, the show will integrate elements of the For You feed, with “a range of activities inspired by the TikTok community’s favorite trends.” Continue reading TikTok Dives into Live Music with Its First Concert Experience

AMC is switching to tiered ticketing, with premium seats costing more. Sightline at AMC will provide seating priced according to the view of the movie screen, with sections designated Value Sightline, Standard Sightline and Preferred Sightline. AMC chief marketing officer and EVP Eliot Hamlisch said Sightline’s “experienced-based pricing” puts movie ticket sales more in line with the way seats are priced at other entertainment venues, such as those featuring music and sports. Sightline at AMC has launched in select markets and the company expects it to expand to additional AMC and AMC DINE-IN locations through 2023. Continue reading AMC Introduces Movie Ticket Prices Based on Seat Location

AMC, the nation’s second largest movie theater chain, has decided to swap many of its traditional theater seats with reclining models at 1,800 of its 5,000 locations. This switch will remove up to two-thirds of an auditorium’s seating capacity. In the next five years, AMC plans to spend around $600 million to make the renovations, which cost between $350,000 and $500,000 per auditorium. The swap will occur only in locations that need to attract more customers. Continue reading AMC Banks on Quality Over Quantity with New Reclining Seats

Telecom giant AT&T is poised to acquire DirecTV for $49 billion, but that deal could fall through if DirecTV fails to renew its “Sunday Ticket” offering with the NFL. The current DirecTV deal with the NFL, which allows the satellite company to broadcast all out-of-market NFL football games on Sunday afternoons to TVs and mobile devices, expires at the end of the 2014 football season. AT&T hopes to become a major broadcasting partner of the NFL with the acquisition of DirecTV. Continue reading AT&T-DirecTV Deal May Hinge on NFL Sunday Games Rights

Time Warner Cable has partnered with startup Fanhattan to offer customers the Fan TV cable set-top box, which enables viewers to watch live TV, cable TV, and streaming video via Internet Protocol. The sleek cable box features a unique viewer guide with an integrated offering of online and live content from television shows to movies through a simple touchpad remote. Pre-orders of Fan TV set-tops, which began Tuesday, are $99, and they will be ready to ship in June. Continue reading Time Warner Cable Offers VOD, Streaming, Cable via Fan TV

Ourscreen is a service that allows groups of people to arrange private or public film screenings at their local cinema for movies that do not have a regular listing. It is similar to Groupon, in that a showing can be booked (by selecting a film, participating theater, and date/time), but is only confirmed once a certain number of people buy in. You can also search screenings that have been proposed by others and invite your friends. The larger the crowd for a given screening, the more affordable become the ticket prices. Continue reading Ourscreen Helps Movie Fans Organize Their Own Screenings

Large format theaters with over-sized high-resolution screens, more comfortable seating, and better sound systems are on the rise. IMAX has traditionally been the leader in these offerings, but competitors such as Cinemark Holdings, Regal Entertainment and AMC Entertainment have started offering their own premium large format (PLF) theaters. Last year, the three chains’ 325 PLF theaters increased revenue by 31 percent to $237 million. Continue reading IMAX Has New Competition in Premium Large Format Theaters

Attendees at the Hollywood Post Alliance Tech Retreat in Indian Wells were treated on Wednesday to an in-depth technical description of the most connected sports stadium in the world. James Stellpflug, VP of sports products at media company EVS Broadcast Equipment explained the inner workings of the latest systems currently running at Sporting Park, the home of Major League Soccer team Sporting Kansas City. Last summer we reported that Sporting Park is becoming a model for stadium technology and fan engagement. Continue reading HPA Retreat: Stadium of the Future? There’s an App for That

Good news for the home entertainment industry. The 2013 figures are in and the Digital Entertainment Group has announced a second annual year of growth for electronic sell-through and video-on-demand. EST (now referred to as Digital HD) was up 50 percent for the year, topping $1 billion for the first time. VOD rose 5 percent over 2012 to $2.1 billion. Spending on digital copies of television and movie titles was up 1 percent to $18.2 billion in total revenue. Continue reading DEG Announces VOD and Digital HD Spending Growth in 2013

Online movie ticketing destination Fandango announced that its service will be embedded on Samsung Internet-connected TVs and directly available via the Samsung Smart Hub. NBCUniversal-owned Fandango has been accessible on smart TVs, but has required a download. The Samsung deal will make Fandango directly available. Although Fandango is known primarily as a ticketing service, it will essentially power the Trailers section of the Smart Hub’s Movies & TV section. Continue reading Fandango to Offer Trailers, Ticketing via Samsung Smart TVs

AllThingsD editors Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher are leaving News Corp. at the end of the year, and have reportedly completed a deal with NBCUniversal for a news and conference business. Mossberg and Swisher will have majority control over the company while NBCUniversal and another unnamed investor will share one-third of the business, according to an unidentified source. Most of the current AllThingsD staff is expected to join the new holding company. Continue reading Mossberg and Swisher Leaving News Corp. for NBCUniversal