Blockbuster Inks Major Deal With Live Nation

The home video and game retail outlet, Blockbuster, will be the exclusive physical outlet for Live Nation ticketing.

Blockbuster has inked a three-year agreement with concert promoter Live Nation to sell tickets in about 500 outlets. The stores will be in markets that mirror Live Nation’s concert venue platform footprint.

Live Nation will launch its full-scale inhouse ticketing agency at the beginning of 2009. The company currently sells about 1 million tickets at physical locations.

Stores will offer exclusive blocks of tickets for the first four hours of ticket sales, as well as general ticketing as long as supplies last. Blockbuster will be responsible for managing and operating all aspects of the ticket transactional experience.

Blockbuster and Live Nation expect to offer exclusive concert products and promotions to Blockbuster customers.

Nathan Hubbard, CEO of Live Nation Ticketing, said the company will look “to develop other product lines centered around music for Blockbuster customers.”

Blockbuster chairman-CEO Jim Keyes said the move “represents another step in the transformation” of the company.