Billboard are citing various sources who say that Ticketmaster and Madison Square Garden owner Cablevision are about to enter into a partnership which will in turn buy a 49% stake in live music conglom and The O2 owner AEG Live.
The deal would create a powerful force in live entertainment encompassing venues, tours, ticketing and media. AEG would bring venues and tour promotion to the table, Ticketmaster a global ticketing network and high traffic website, and Cablevision not only its venue interests but also the Fuse TV cable music channel, which is expected to be relaunched under the AEG Live banner should the deal go ahead.
The alliance would strengthen AEG in its battle against its main competitor Live Nation, who have themselves been expanding their operations, particularly into merchandising, soon into ticketing, and, through their Madonna deal, into other strands of the music business, including recordings. AEG have already said they won't actively move into the record label or artist management domains that Live Nation are dabbling in, keen to position themselves as the company labels and managers can work with on live projects without fearing they are aiding a future competitor. However, an AEG / Ticketmaster / Cablevision alliance would mean AEG was similarly multi-faceted alongside an expanding and evolving Live Nation.
No one from AEG, Ticketmaster or Cablevision have commented on the rumours, though, strangely, Live Nation chief Michael Rapino has. According to Billboard he commented on the rumours during an investor's conference call yesterday, and he said: "If those rumors are true and there's investments made into a competitor like AEG, for one it validates the frenzy around the live business. Everybody wants to figure out how to get control of that content and ticket to build upon their business model. [But] we're very confident that we're ahead of the curve in the industry right now, because we're not talking about change. We have the structure that can execute the new business model today. It's about moving forward and fine-tuning the model".