Poised to launch its own in-house ticketing company on January 1, Live Nation has inked a three-year deal with Blockbuster, making the DVD and game rental chain the exclusive physical retail ticket outlet for Live Nation Ticketing.

Through the agreement, Live Nation will sell its retail tickets exclusively through approximately 500 Blockbuster company-owned stores in specific markets across the country. The selected stores will offer exclusive blocks of tickets available only at Blockbuster during 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 transaction.

“We are delighted to be teaming up with Live Nation, the world’s leader in live music entertainment," said Jim Keyes, Blockbuster chairman and CEO, in a statement. "Not only will this agreement drive hundreds of thousands of customers to our stores, it represents another step in the transformation of Blockbuster into a brand that offers the most convenient access to entertainment...from DVDs and games, to accessing tickets to some of the biggest concert events... Our mission is to be the customer’s one-stop entertainment destination.”

With intense ticketing competition anticipated between Live Nation Ticketing and Ticketmaster, Ticketmaster recently teamed up with Billboard, where links to direct ticket sales options are now available on all chart and artist pages throughout Billboard.com.