AOL books a deal with Ticketmaster

Internet giant America Online on Wednesday said it is teaming with Ticketmaster to provide its members with access to tickets for events at venues across the country.

Under the terms of the multiyear agreement, Ticketmaster's event-ticketing services will be distributed to users of all AOL brands through a new service--AOL Box Office By Ticketmaster--that will offer users an inventory of tickets to concerts, movies, plays, sporting events and the like, the companies said in a statement.

The move continues an alliance spree that has been going on for months at newly merged AOL Time Warner. It demonstrates the media giant's continuing effort to make its Internet subsidiary an all-in-one shop for members, offering online shopping services for books, music and now live events.

The deal also gives AOL users access to Ticketmaster's local city guides that offer Moviefone's movie information and ticketing services. In addition, Ticketmaster's Match.com service will provide personal ads to AOL's Love@AOL, and it will be made available across AOL, Compuserve and Netscape.

Users of the new service will be able to access information about an event by category, venue or date. Online users will also have access to tickets for selected events throughout the year in advance of the general public through AOL Box Office presale programs.

As part of the deal, AOL users can get tickets to more than 350,000 events and 5,000 venues across the nation, the companies said.