This is a great site...i can't believe TMCS gets so little attention from the "investing" community...
rhonda
My Ticketmaster' Launches as First-Ever Personalized Online Ticketing Service
PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 4, 1999--
Ticketmaster Online's Premier Service Features 360-Degree Photographic Images and Virtual Reality Seating Charts, Personalized Desktop Event
Ticker, and Easy Internet Access To Events Nationwide
Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch Inc. (Nasdaq:TMCS) announced yesterday that it launched "My Ticketmaster" at my.ticketmaster.com.
The new state-of-the-art system, developed in conjunction with Intel Corp., provides entertainment fans with an opportunity to create personalized profiles alerting them to ticket sales of favorite events including concerts, sports, family entertainment, performing arts, and more.
Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch (www.citysearch.com, www.ticketmaster.com) is a leading provider of local city guides, local advertising and live event ticketing on the Internet. USA Networks Inc. (Nasdaq:USAI) is the majority stockholder of Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch.
"My Ticketmaster" features IPIX 360-degree photographic images and three dimensional virtual reality images of more than 75 venues including New York's Radio City Music Hall, the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles, and Chicago's Comiskey Park.
The service enables entertainment fans to see 360-degree views from the best available seats before completing their ticket purchase and to take virtual 'tours' of the venue. The site also provides event information such as showtimes, directions to the venue, parking and more.
"My Ticketmaster" features an on-screen "Ticketmaster Event Ticker" -- a desktop event ticker program that can be downloaded to users' individual computers allowing them to receive a continually updated display of on-sale information for events that meet the users' personal, customized preferences.
In the future, "My Ticketmaster" plans to introduce "collaborative filtering" technology within its user database to deduce users' event interests and provide expanded event recommendations. The collaborative filtering will be powered by the Engage/Net Perceptions technology package.
"We're extremely excited about the launch of 'My Ticketmaster,'" said Terry Barnes, president and chief executive officer, Ticketmaster Group Inc. "The Internet is a wonderful vehicle for expanding our core ticketing business and provides another easy, convenient way for consumers to acquire tickets to their favorite events.
"It also opens up a boundless opportunity for our clients to communicate to a universal audience. Entertainment fans can keep tabs on what's going on in their own city or in any city in the U.S. and can be among the first to get tickets in hand to top events," added Barnes.
"'My Ticketmaster' is a powerful new online ticketing application," said Bob Perkins, EVP Ticketing, Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch. "We're proud to be working with Intel and many of the industry's top technology, virtual reality and interactive design firms to offer consumers and clients an unbeatable, technologically superior service."
The architecture of "My Ticketmaster" as well as the user interface and virtual venue views were designed and managed by Intel based upon content from Ticketmaster. The service utilizes technology created by Ticketmaster and Intel, as well as visualization technologies from Viewpoint/3Name3D and Interactive Pictures Corp., a virtual reality plug-in from blaxxun interactive, and interactive design from R/GA Interactive.
The "My Ticketmaster" site is optimized for Intel's Pentium(R) II processor-based systems. Users will receive the best performance with a 400 MHz or higher system, but can also use a processor with speeds above 200 MHz. "My Ticketmaster" utilizes several plug-in technologies to bring virtual reality files (VRML models) and 360-degree photographs (IPIX files) to the users' desktop.
"Intel is happy to have worked with Ticketmaster Online to create a new and interesting use of the Internet," said Timothy Yiu, Director of Intel Productions. "Users are excited by the ability to interactively preview their seats during the ticket purchase process through our use of 3D and panoramic viewing technologies. 'My Ticketmaster' reinforces Intel's belief that appropriate use of advanced technology in e-commerce sites helps business."
"Through this work with Ticketmaster Online and its development partners, we are collectively demonstrating how 3D visualization can enhance the online experience for consumers as well as provide a competitive advantage to business," said Martin Plaehn, CEO of Viewpoint, a subsidiary of Computer Associates.
"The 'My Ticketmaster' project is the first tangible example of Viewpoint/3Name3D's strategic initiative to transition technologies created for high-end animation into broad-based electronic commerce solutions," Plaehn added.
"With 'My Ticketmaster' and IPIX images, people are literally teleported into concert halls and ballparks via the Internet," said Jim Phillips, chairman and CEO of Interactive Pictures. "Ticketmaster Online customers will be spellbound by being able to select their seats as if they were already there."
"'My Ticketmaster' offers users unprecedented access to information about their entertainment choices," said Robert M. Greenberg, R/GA Interactive's chairman and CEO. "The challenge for the interaction design team at R/GA was to create an interface that allows customers to navigate and customize the broad range of options with confidence in their choices."
"We're convinced 'My Ticketmaster' is defining the next generation of e-commerce applications," said Franz Buchenberger, CEO of blaxxun interactive. "It makes full use of the internet as an interactive visual medium. We're pleased to integrate the blaxxun Contact 3D viewer into a product that makes ticketing a user-friendly, informative experience."
"My Ticketmaster" is a personalized complement to Ticketmaster Online (www.ticketmaster.com), the Internet's leading event ticketing and information source, with more than 30,000 event listings. Ticketmaster Online sales have risen from $100,000 to more than $10 million monthly in the past 21 months. Entertainment fans can purchase tickets on a real time basis for most events.
Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch is a leading provider of local city guides, local advertising and live event ticketing on the Internet. The CitySearch city guides provide up-to-date information regarding arts and entertainment events, community activities, recreation, business, shopping, professional services and news/sports/weather to consumers in metropolitan areas.
Ticketmaster Online offers consumers up-to-date information on live entertainment events and a convenient means of purchasing tickets for live events and related merchandise on the World Wide Web in 42 states and in Canada and the United Kingdom.
Ticketmaster, a wholly owned subsidiary of USA Networks, is the world's leading computerized ticketing service, selling 70 million tickets valued at more than two billion dollars through more than 2,900 retail Ticket Center outlets, 29 worldwide telephone call centers, and through its relationship with Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch.
Ticketmaster serves more than 3,750 clients in the United States, South America, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Australia. The company provides ticketing for 85 professional sports franchises and hundreds of leading arenas, stadiums, performing arts venues, and theaters.
Clients receive comprehensive ticket inventory control and management, broad distribution, and dedicated marketing and support services. Consumers receive convenient access to tickets for more than 150,000 events a year, including a broad range of concerts, sports, family entertainment, performing arts, and movies.
Viewpoint DataLabs and 3Name3D, pioneers and market leaders in 3D digital model creation, joined forces in 1998 following their acquisition by Computer Associates International Inc. (NYSE:CA), the world leader in mission-critical business software.
The combined company, operating as Viewpoint DataLabs International Inc., serves thousands of customers in entertainment, visual simulation, corporate communications, computer-based training, advertising and electronic commerce -- helping create stunning digital effects for films, television programs, advertisements, games and Web sites.
With customers and partners ranging from DreamWorks SKG and PDI to Microsoft and Ticketmaster, Viewpoint has built a strategic business at the core of its industry that is helping define the future of computer graphics. More information about Viewpoint can be found at viewpoint.com.
Interactive Pictures Corp. has reinvented photography for businesses and consumers through its patented IPIX technology. An IPIX immersive image "teleports" people to and immerses them in a three-dimensional, 360-degree by 360-degree image. IPIX is the only photography solution to deliver a completely immersive photographic experience providing interactive, spherical images.
An IPIX takes the viewer from earth to sky, floor to ceiling and horizon to horizon, all from two simple opposing photographs captured by a fisheye lens and seamlessly blended together. Interactive Pictures maintains corporate headquarters in Oak Ridge, Tenn. and San Jose, Calif.
The privately held company has received equity investments from Motorola, Discovery Communications, Advance Publications and Media One Group. Experience IPIX and learn more about Interactive Pictures at www.ipix.com.
R/GA Interactive is a strategic design agency that creates communications tools for companies that want a meaningful presence in the digital economy.
Recently completed projects include the redesign of the Auction Universe site (www.auctionuniverse.com), interface design for the online multiplayer versions of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy on Sony Station (www.station.sony.com), the Ross School Web site (www.ross.org), and the award-winning visuals and software for a series of kiosks installed at the Discovery Channel's flagship store in Washington, D.C.
R/GA Interactive is currently in production on projects for clients including IBM, Kodak, Streamline, CTW, Johnson & Johnson and Novartis. More information about R/GA Interactive can be found at www.rga.com.
blaxxun interactive, an international company with offices in San Francisco, Calif., and Munich, Germany was founded in 1995. It offers products and solutions for multimedia communication on the Internet and intranets. Applications include online promotion, online shopping, online service, and online teamwork.
The award-winning blaxxun Community Server and Clients are an open platform for interactive 2D and 3D (VRML) solutions. More information about blaxxun interactive can be found at www.blaxxun.com
MEDIA NOTE: For "My Ticketmaster" online media information including downloadable photo images, visit media site: 205.132.175.199 User name: xmedia Password: mytm
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This news release contains forward-looking statements about Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch Inc. (the "Company"), including those concerning its future product plans. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. The Company's actual results could differ materially from these statements. Among the risks and uncertainties that could adversely affect the Company's actual results are: the limited operating history and early development stage of the Company; the absence of history of Ticketmaster Online as an independent company; the Company's lack of profitability and anticipation of continued losses; the Company's dependence on its relationship with Ticketmaster Corp.; control of the Company by USA Networks Inc.; the potential for conflicts of interest; the fact that the license agreement between USA Networks, Ticketmaster Corp. and the Company is subject to certain limitations that are contained therein; possible future sales of the Company's securities by USA Networks Inc.; company integration risks; the Company's dependence on increased ticket sales; the Company's future capital needs and the uncertainty of additional financing; the unpredictability and potential fluctuations in future revenues and operating results. Investors are encouraged to read the risks and uncertainties detailed in the Company's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Form S-1.
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CONTACT:
For CitySearch:
Alexander Communications
Kelly Larabee, 602/258-1416
klarabee@alexandercom.com
or
CitySearch
Sara Strickland, 626/660-2758
sstrickland@citysearch.com
or
For USAi:
Jennifer Goebel, 212/314-7373, Media Relations
Roger Clark, 212/314-7400, Investor Relations
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