Ticketmaster to Lick Competition by Buying It : Entertainment: An agreement is reached to sell Ticketron for an undisclosed sum. The No. 1 firm’s move will end years of intense rivalry.

Ticketmaster Corp., the country’s leading computerized entertainment ticketing company, has agreed to purchase its largest competitor, Ticketron, for an undisclosed sum.

The deal ends years of intense and often acrimonious competition between the two and puts Ticketmaster firmly in command of the lucrative computerized ticket-selling trade.

Details of the transaction were sketchy, but several people close to the companies confirmed that an agreement had been reached. Sources said the companies have filed notice of the purchase with the federal government, which is required under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. The companies have also signed a formal letter of intent, according to knowledgeable sources.

Frederic D. Rosen, chairman and chief executive of Los Angeles-based Ticketmaster, declined to comment on the deal. Representatives for Ticketron, based in Landover, Md., could not be reached late Monday.

Ticketron was purchased from Control Data Corp. last year by a partnership of sports and entertainment companies that included Centre Group LP of Landover, Ogden Allied Services Corp. of New York, Wembley Group of London and Carlyle Group of Washington.

Some industry observers predicted that the merger of the two companies will have little or no impact on the ticket-selling trade.

“Ticketmaster is already predominant in Southern California,” said Brian Murphy, president of Avalon Attractions, the area’s leading concert promoter. “So, for those vendors who had contracts with Ticketron, this should just improve the service to their patrons.”

The privately held Ticketmaster, with 1,300 outlets in 40 states, reportedly sold $600 million in tickets last year. Ticketron, which has only half as many outlets, had $500 million in sales. The two companies keep only a fraction of their gross revenues, however.

People close to the deal said Ticketmaster has agreed to buy certain assets from Ticketron in a deal that essentially will put the competitor out of business. The purchase will end the long-running rivalry between the two agencies, which intensified in 1982 when Rosen was brought in to run Ticketmaster for its majority owners, Chicago’s wealthy Pritzker family.

Within seven years, Rosen had boosted revenue to $80 million from $1 million and knocked Ticketron off its perch as the nation’s leading ticket seller, a position it had held since 1976. As entertainment promoters, sports franchise owners and others who are the biggest clients of ticket services flocked to Ticketmaster, Rosen, a former corporate lawyer known for his entrepreneurial drive and his sharp tongue, attributed his success to the company’s aggressive work force and advanced computer system.

But others accused him of unfair business practices for adding fees as high as 55% to the base price of a ticket. Ticketron Chairman Abe Pollin became so angry with Rosen in the course of a 1989 franchise dispute that he accused Rosen of operating “in the gutter.”

Just last year, Ticketron hired a new president who pledged to recapture the ticket-selling crown. But Ticketron’s fortunes continued to slide, as Rosen’s Ticketmaster gradually gained greater and greater market share.