Barry Diller Wants to Keep Hands in Spun-Off Ticketmaster

By Alfred Branch, Jr.

Barry Diller, CEO of IAC/InterActiveCorp, wants to remain an integral part of Ticketmaster, once the company is spun off from IAC, the media mogul told a conference of bankers this week at a Citigroup event, according to CNBC.

While revenues are up at the ticketing giant, concerns remain for its future as competition mounts throughout the ticketing industry on both the primary and secondary levels, and as Ticketmaster prepares for life without significant revenue from rival Live Nation.

Since announcing plans to spin off Ticketmaster and other divisions in order to position IAC to concentrate on core internet businesses, Liberty Media, which already owns a portion of IAC, has emerged as a potential suitor the ticketing company, but it remains to be seen how or if a deal can be worked out.

Diller believes prospects for Ticketmaster remain strong, especially in light of high-profile deals with the National Football League and the National Hockey League to be the authorized secondary ticket reseller for those two sports leagues. Ticketmaster has a similar deal with the National Basketball Association, but it lacks one with the lucrative baseball market because competitor StubHub! has a deal sealed up with Major League Baseball.

Speaking the obvious, Diller believes that by dollar value the secondary ticket market is bigger than the primary market that Ticketmaster dominates, which is why the company is trying hard to boost its TicketExchange and ticket auction sites, which have not yet achieved much traction in the market.

"At some point, it'll all be variable pricing," Diller was quoted as saying to the group, which he believes is the future for the ticketing industry.

(The image accompanying this story is from Wired.com)