Ticketmaster to Accept Major Credit Cards at Retail Ticket Centers Throughout the U.S.; Ticketmaster Selects Chase Merchant Services to Provide Credit Card Transaction Processing

Business Wire, Jan 21, 1999

LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Jan. 21, 1999--Ticketmaster, a USA company (Nasdaq:USAI) has begun its rollout of accepting MasterCard, Visa and Discover at retail Ticket Center locations throughout the U.S. and has selected Chase Merchant Services to provide credit card processing for all credit card transactions. Under the long-term agreement, Chase Merchant Services will provide card processing services for more than 15 million Ticketmaster credit card transactions annually via Ticketmaster's Charge-By-Phone Network, retail Ticket Center locations, Internet site, and select venue box offices. Ticketmaster expects all 2,900 of its retail Ticket Center locations to be able to accept credit cards within the year.

"We selected Chase Merchant Services because of its state-of-the- art technology and its ability to handle the high volume processing of Ticketmaster's Charge-By-Phone, retail, and Internet credit card sales," said Eugene Cobuzzi, COO, Ticketmaster Group, Inc. "We look forward to working closely with Chase Merchant Services to continue to provide optimum ticketing services to our clients as well as to providing entertainment fans with fast and easy access to purchasing event tickets."

"We are pleased to form a strategic partnership with a leader in the entertainment industry," said Diane Vogt, chief executive officer of Chase Merchant Services. "This agreement reflects positively on our ability to provide the economies of scale and highest degree of innovation that service providers seek for payment processing."

Ticketmaster, a USA company (Nasdaq:USAI) is the world's leading computerized ticketing service; selling 70 million tickets valued at more than two billion dollars, through more than 2,900 retail Ticket Center outlets; 29 worldwide telephone call centers; and its Internet site. Ticketmaster serves more than 3,750 clients in the U.S., South America, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Australia. The company provides ticketing for 94 professional sports franchises and hundreds of leading arenas, stadiums, performing arts venues, and theaters including such prominent facilities as Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall in New York, the Great Western Forum and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and the United Center in Chicago. Clients receive comprehensive ticket inventory control and management, broad distribution, and dedicated marketing and support services. Consumers receive convenient access to tickets for more than 150,000 events a year, including a broad range of concerts, sports, family entertainment, performing arts, and movies.

Chase Merchant Services is the nation's largest merchant acquirer, processing nearly 2 billion transactions a year and more than $100 billion in annual credit and debit card sales volume. Chase Merchant Services is a joint venture between First Data Merchant Services Corporation, the world's leading processor of Visa and MasterCard transactions, and The Chase Manhattan Bank (NYSE:CMB), the fourth largest bankcard issuer in the United States.