Ticketron

Last updated

Ticketron, Inc., doing business as Ticketron.com, is an American ticket sales company established in 2017. The original Ticketron, Inc., active the 1960s until 1990, was a computerized event ticketing company that was the industry leader until overtaken by Ticketmaster. In 1990, the majority of Ticketron's assets and business were sold and the following year they were sold on to rival Ticketmaster. In 2017, the rights to the Ticketron trademark were sold to a private company, and the company was re-established as an online ticket sales service.

Contents

History

The original Ticketron was based in Fort Lee, New Jersey and its president was Clayton B Hulsh. [1] Ticketron unsuccessfully trialled its computerized ticketing system in summer 1967 and folded later that year. [2] The name was bought by a rival, Ticket Reservations Systems, Inc (TRS) and became the name of the service run by TRS in July 1969. [3]

Ticket Reservations Systems, Inc had been incorporated on May 4, 1965, and was based in New York. It was funded by Cemp Investments headed by Edgar Bronfman Sr. [4] It hired Jack Quinn who became president and the company started selling tickets in May 1967 from six Alexander's stores in New York and New Jersey using a duplexed Control Data Corporation 1700 computer system with terminal equipment supplied by Computer Applications, Inc. that it called "electronic box offices". [5] [4] TRS initially charged 25 cents to the customer and 25 cents to the event but returned 12.5 cents to the house. It moved to a 10% charge in 1970. [3] The terminals expanded to other publicly accessible locations, such as banks and department stores.

The original software resided on a pair (one for backup) of CDC 1700 computers located on the first floor of the Beverly Hilton Hotel with a large window facing Wilshire Blvd. The system had back-up power generators in the basement to help ensure un-interruptible service. The system was designed to ensure that a given 'seat' at an event could not be sold more than once.

In 1969, 51% of TRS was sold to Control Data for $3.9 million with Edgar Bronfman Sr. and his family retaining 25%. [4] [3] Former ABC television president, Thomas W. Moore became chairman of TRS. [3]

Another competitor, Computicket, owned by Computer Sciences Corporation, folded in April 1970 leaving Ticketron as the sole computerized ticketing provider in the US. [3] In 1973, Control Data bought out Cemp Investments. [4] In 1979, Ticketron starting selling tickets by phone. [6]

In addition to the better-known event ticketing system, Ticketron also provided ticketing terminals and back-end infrastructure for parimutuel betting, and provided similar services for a number of US lotteries, including those in New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Washington and Maryland. [7]

By the mid 1980s, Ticketron had 600 outlets in 22 US states and Canada. [7] By 1990, Ticketron had 750 outlets and had a 40% market share, behind Ticketmaster with 50% of the market. [6] In 1990 the majority of Ticketron's assets and business, with the exception of a small antitrust carve-out for Broadway's "Telecharge" business-unit, were bought by The Carlyle Group who sold it the following year to rival Ticketmaster, which had been founded in 1976. [8] [9]

The Ticketron name was revived in 2017 as an online ticket service after Ticketmaster sold the brand name in 2017. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TRS-80</span> 1977 microcomputer by Tandy Corporation

The TRS-80 Micro Computer System is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of Tandy Radio Shack, Z80 [microprocessor]. It is one of the earliest mass-produced and mass-marketed retail home computers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TRS-80 Color Computer</span> Line of home computers

The RadioShack TRS-80 Color Computer, later marketed as the Tandy Color Computer, is a series of home computers developed and sold by Tandy Corporation. Despite sharing a name with the earlier TRS-80, the Color Computer is a completely different system and a radical departure in design based on the Motorola 6809E processor rather than the Zilog Z80 of earlier models.

Tandy Corporation was an American family-owned leather-goods company based in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. Tandy Leather was founded in 1919 as a leather supply store. By the end of the 1950s, under the tutelage of then-CEO Charles Tandy, the company expanded into the hobby market, making leather moccasins and coin purses, making huge sales among Scouts, leading to a fast growth in sales.

Control Data Corporation (CDC) was a mainframe and supercomputer company that in the 1960s was one of the nine major U.S. computer companies, which group included IBM, the Burroughs Corporation, and the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), the NCR Corporation (NCR), General Electric, and Honeywell, RCA and UNIVAC. For most of the 1960s, the strength of CDC was the work of the electrical engineer Seymour Cray who developed a series of fast computers, then considered the fastest computing machines in the world; in the 1970s, Cray left the Control Data Corporation and founded Cray Research (CRI) to design and make supercomputers. In 1988, after much financial loss, the Control Data Corporation began withdrawing from making computers and sold the affiliated companies of CDC; in 1992, Cray established Control Data Systems, Inc. The remaining affiliate companies of CDC currently do business as the software company Dayforce.

Charles Bronfman, is a Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist and is a member of the Canadian Jewish Bronfman family. With an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion in 2023, Bronfman was ranked by Forbes as the 1,217th wealthiest person in the world.

Ticketmaster Entertainment, LLC is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, California with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010, it merged with Live Nation under the name Live Nation Entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heathkit</span> Brand name of kits and other electronic products produced and marketed by the Heath Company

Heathkit is the brand name of kits and other electronic products produced and marketed by the Heath Company. The products over the decades have included electronic test equipment, high fidelity home audio equipment, television receivers, amateur radio equipment, robots, electronic ignition conversion modules for early model cars with point style ignitions, and the influential Heath H-8, H-89, and H-11 hobbyist computers, which were sold in kit form for assembly by the purchaser.

LexisNexis is an American data analytics company headquartered in New York, New York. Its products are various databases that are accessed through online portals, including portals for computer-assisted legal research (CALR), newspaper search, and consumer information. During the 1970s, LexisNexis began to make legal and journalistic documents more accessible electronically. As of 2006, the company had the world's largest electronic database for legal and public-records–related information. The company is a subsidiary of RELX.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer Sciences Corporation</span> Defunct American corporation that provided information technology services

Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) was an American multinational corporation that provided information technology (IT) services and professional services. On April 3, 2017, it merged with the Enterprise Services line of business of HP Enterprise to create DXC Technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ticket resale</span> Act of reselling tickets for admission to events

Ticket resale is the act of reselling tickets for admission to events. Tickets are bought from licensed sellers and then sold for a price determined by the individual or company in possession of the tickets. Tickets sold through secondary sources may be sold for less or more than their face value depending on demand, which tends to vary as the event date approaches. When the supply of tickets for a given event available through authorized ticket sellers is depleted, the event is considered "sold out," generally increasing the market value for any tickets on offer through secondary sellers. Ticket resale is common in both sporting and musical events.

Live Nation is an American events promoter and venue operator based in Beverly Hills, California. Founded in 1996 by Robert F. X. Sillerman as SFX Entertainment, the company's business was built around consolidating concert promoters into a national entity to counter the oversized influence of ticket behemoth Ticketmaster. In 2000, the company was sold to Clear Channel Communications for $4.4 billion and operated as Clear Channel Entertainment until 2005, when it was spun off as Live Nation. In 2010, Live Nation merged with the ticketing firm Ticketmaster to form a larger conglomerate named Live Nation Entertainment.

The CDC 1700 is a 16-bit word minicomputer, manufactured by the Control Data Corporation with deliveries beginning in May 1966.

Boston Computer Exchange was the world's first e-commerce company, and dominated electronic trading in used computers in the US in the 1980s. The Boston Computer Exchange, also called the BCE and BoCoEx, were in operation before the Internet became widely available to the general public. Their Bulletin Board System-based marketplace utilized Delphi online service as a platform for an on-line database of products where buyers and sellers bought, sold and traded computers. The company pioneered efforts to create a fully automated, on-line auction and trade systems for general commerce and eventually turned into an Internet-based business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reservisor</span> Automated airline booking system

Starting in 1946, American Airlines developed a number of automated airline booking systems known as Reservisor. Although somewhat successful, American's unhappiness with the Reservisor systems led them to develop the computerized Sabre system used to this day.

Songkick is a concert discovery service owned by Warner Music Group. The service allows users to search for upcoming concert events in their area, and also track individual artists to receive notifications of upcoming shows in their area. It also provides services for artist teams to manage and promote tour dates globally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Percom</span>

Percom Data Corporation was an early microcomputer company formed in 1976 to sell peripherals into the emerging microcomputer market. They are best known for their floppy disk systems, first for S-100 machines, and the later for other platforms like the TRS-80 and Atari 8-bit computers. The company was purchased by Esprit Systems in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AXS (company)</span> Ticketing company

AXS is an American ticket outlet for sports and entertainment events, founded in 2011 and owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), the world's second largest entertainment promoter behind Live Nation Entertainment. AEG operate venues globally, as well as promote events under their AEG Presents banner, meaning these venues and promoted events typically use AXS as their primary ticket outlet.

Cemp Investments was the primary holding company and investment vehicle for, and named after, the four children of Samuel Bronfman: Charles Bronfman, Edgar Bronfman, Aileen "Minda" Bronfman de Gunzburg, and Phyllis Lambert, also known as the Montreal branch of the Bronfman family. Cemp became one of the largest privately owned companies in Canada. At its peak, it controlled tens of billions in dollars of assets in major distilling, commercial real estate development, oil and gas, and entertainment companies across North America.

MAI Systems Corporation, or simply MAI, was a United States-based computer company best known for its Basic/Four product and the customized computer systems that ran it. It was later known for its computer reservation systems.

Computer Applications, Inc. (CAI) was an American computer software company of the 1960s. Founded in 1960 in New York City, it grew to encompass contract programming, computer services, and various subsidiary businesses. By the end of the decade, it was the second largest independent software company in the United States. Falling into a rapid decline, it went bankrupt in 1970.

References

  1. ↑ Morse, Tom (March 22, 1967). "See Computer B.O. Coming". Variety . p. 1.
  2. ↑ "Computerized B.O. Opens Here Mar. 1". Daily Variety . December 20, 1967. p. 4.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Arneel, Gene (April 8, 1970). "Computicket Folds With $13-Mil Loss, But Ticketron Still Punching Away". Variety . p. 117.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Ticket Masters – Part 1: The Emergence of Electronic Ticketing Services". Music Business Research. September 9, 2011. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Ready Computer Ticket Selling for Pilot Test In 6 N.Y. Area Stores". Variety . April 19, 1967. p. 104.
  6. 1 2 Zimmerman, Kevin (April 25, 1990). "International partnership buys Ticketron agency from Control Data Corporation". Variety . p. 94.
  7. 1 2 "Allen & Co's $165-Mil Deal For Ticketron; No Changes Seen". Variety . May 14, 1986. p. 92.
  8. ↑ "Ticketmaster Deal To Get Ticketron". The New York Times . February 28, 1991. p. 4 (section D). Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Ticket Masters – Part 2: The Rise of Ticketmaster". Music Business Research. September 14, 2011. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Ticketron Returns To The US Marketplace". Ticketing Business News. October 17, 2018. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.