Looking to expand its reach, newly minted Live Nation Entertainment has reportedly signed a partnership deal with discount department store giant Wal-Mart, that will allow Live Nation to sell tickets from select outlets.

Details of the deal were not readily available, but according to Billboard, the partnership will launch sometime in the next few months at about 500 Wal-Mart stores, including outlets in Los Angeles and Chicago. The focus will reportedly be on concert and sports tickets in and around the cities where stores are located.

Exactly how the tickets will be sold is unknown, whether by a sales clerk or a kiosk, but the Live Nation location will be in the store's entertainment section, according to Billboard.

The partnership comes just three weeks after Live Nation and Ticketmaster received approval for their merger from the U.S. Department of Justice, which led to the creation of Live Nation Entertainment.

As a condition of the approval, the company has to, in effect, prop up two competitors, Comcast-Spectacor and AEG, through the sale of assets to the pair.

The Wal-Mart deal was announced by Live Nation Executive Chairman Irving Azoff during a panel discussion earlier today at a technology summit at the NBA All-Star weekend in Dallas.

A spokesperson for Live Nation did not return a message seeking comment.

In late 2008, as Live Nation was gearing up to create its own ticketing operation, the company signed a multi-year deal with the DVD/video store chain Blockbuster to sell tickets from about 500 locations throughout the U.S.

However, soon after signing the deal, Blockbuster started having financial troubles, and the Live Nation deal essentially languished. At the time, Live Nation was looking to establish retail outlets around the country to complement its popular Web site, LiveNation.com.

Months later, the company announced its intention to merge with Ticketmaster.