Ticketmaster Buys Canadian Ticket Service

Ticketmaster, the world’s largest sports and entertainment ticketing service, will sell tickets for Cirque du Soleil and events at several Canadian venues. The Los Angeles-based division of Barry Diller’s USA Networks said it bought Admission Network, a ticketing service for the French-Canadian performance group, the Montreal Expos, and Montreal football and hockey stadiums. The terms were not disclosed, but one source estimated the value at between $35 million and $40 million. Ticketmaster has been expanding overseas for several years by buying stakes in French and Irish ticket companies and opening offices in Europe and South America. The company sold nearly 75 million tickets worldwide last year. It charged an average of $4.70 in fees on each ticket, according to public filings. The deal bolsters Ticketmaster’s Canadian presence and also gives it ownership of Admission’s ticketing software unit, Microflex. Based in Quebec City, Microflex recently introduced an electronic ticketing system that allows visitors to buy tickets online and print them out at home.