Ticketmaster Threatens to Bar Microsoft

In a rare public attack on Microsoft that could throw up new commercial boundaries on the untamed territory of the World Wide Web, Ticketmaster Chief Executive Fred Rosen on Tuesday threatened to cut off its Web links to the software giant and announced a close alliance with CitySearch, a Microsoft rival in the booming business of providing local information online.

Under the agreement, Ticketmaster has agreed to closely integrate its online Web site to Pasadena-based CitySearch’s site. Customers using the CitySearch site to find a concert they want to attend, could--with the click of a button--purchase a ticket using Ticketmaster’s online transaction system. Ticketmaster will also provide CitySearch with regular updates on live events.

In return, CitySearch has committed “substantial” marketing resources to promoting Ticketmaster Online, the ticket seller’s new service on the Internet.

Rosen said similar talks between Ticketmaster and Microsoft’s local content site, Sidewalk, broke down several months ago when Microsoft refused to offer a quid pro quo for including Ticketmaster in its Web site.

But when Sidewalk launched earlier this month, Microsoft went ahead and put links to Ticketmaster’s online site from its list of live events.

“They are monumentally arrogant,” said Rosen, who also castigated Microsoft for trying to send its proposal by e-mail rather than sending a person to discuss it.

Rosen said Ticketmaster is exploring the possibility of suing the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant. Ticketmaster may also block customers who try to connect to Ticketmaster Online from Microsoft’s site, he said.

Such action, if effective, could change the dynamics of a Web world that continues to be fundamentally based on the ability to freely jump among sites. Although some sites charge subscription fees, there is no precedent for making demands of a Web site simply for including a link.

Sidewalk General Manager Frank Schott was surprised to hear of Ticketmaster’s threats. “I’m not sure what the deal is,” Schott said. Although Microsoft had talks over a possible co-marketing deal, the link from Sidewalk to Ticketmaster was a small point in the discussions, he said.

“Linking is such a common thing on the Web,” said Schott, who added that if Ticketmaster blocks links from the Sidewalk site to its online site, Microsoft would replace those hot links with phone numbers so customers could call Ticketmaster to buy tickets.

Most analysts say Rosen’s threats are largely a bargaining ploy.

“It’s hard to find a good business reason for blocking off people at the front door,” said Gregory Wester, analyst at Boston-based market researcher Yankee Group. “Usually you want as many people to come to your Web site as possible.”

Attracting Web visitors has the potential to be especially profitable to Ticketmaster since it receives a fee for every ticket it sells.

CitySearch and Sidewalk are two of the most prominent of a host of new services that have sprung up in cities across the country using the search capabilities of the computer to let customers quickly find entertainment, traffic and other local information. Each service has been aggressively seeking partners among newspapers and other content providers to expand its reach.

Ticketmaster has had talks with many of the other dozens of local providers of arts information. But Rosen says Microsoft is the only company that went ahead and included a Web link to its site without coming first to an agreement with Ticketmaster.