Key Brand Entertainment acquires BroadwayBox.com

[PastorErnst]

Posted: 1/16/13 at 11:13am

Bloomberg: Broadway’s Online Ticket Sellers Have Joined Forces

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 1/16/13 at 11:25am

Hope we all enjoyed the discounts and (relatively) easy to use Broadwaybox.com services while it lasted...

[jv92]

Posted: 1/16/13 at 11:26am

Not cool. Anyone wanna buy it back? Please?

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 1/16/13 at 4:25pm

Oh Christ! I hate Broadway.com. Ugh......

[Kelly2]

Posted: 1/16/13 at 4:37pm

Yet another example of how Broadway is going to make itself irrelevant by making tickets accessible only to the 1%. Honestly, how are young kids and students going to get interested in theatre if their parents are middle-class or working-class and can't shell out 150$ a person for a show? I know, I know, most shows offer rush or lotto as a subsidized ticket option, but to me the idea that the only kind of ticketing that should be available to lower income theatre fans is subject to sitting in line for 6 hours or hoping your name gets picked out of a bucket is a little demeaning.

And yes, I know, "market value" is whatever someone is willing to pay for a ticket, and any tickets selling for less are basically welfare/charity, but it really does bother me nonetheless.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/16/13 at 4:37pm

Broadway.com charges a fee of about 33 percent over the face value per ticket.

For “The Lion King,” for example, Broadway.com adds $37 in fees to the $115 full-price tickets.

Thirty-seven dollars!?!

Hmmm...sounds like a great opportunity for BroadwayWorld to aggregate the discounts the way BroadwayBox has been doing--and undercut Broadway.com on those outrageous fees.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 1/16/13 at 6:05pm

Hmmm...sounds like a great opportunity for BroadwayWorld to aggregate the discounts the way BroadwayBox has been doing--and undercut Broadway.com on those outrageous fees.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/16/13 at 7:43pm

Well, since B'way box (for the most part) simply provides codes and links, I can't understand what Key would want with them. I'm sure they must receive a bit of money for this service -- but how much can it be?


And I'm not sure b'way itself is responsible for this -- but it sure does suck if it no longer exists as we know it. Will they become a "service" now and require a joining fee to get the codes? Argh.

[tking001]

Posted: 1/16/13 at 9:00pm

Im confused
What exactly does this mean?
And how does it effect us theatre goers?
Thanks for clearing it up

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/16/13 at 9:12pm

There is no way to know, Tom. The news isn't even "official" yet.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 1/17/13 at 3:38am

there is always Playbill Club and even (ok ok, ) Theatremania

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 1/20/13 at 6:24pm

I happened to run into the broadwaybox.com owners today, and while they couldn't say much about the deal, they said to keep using it because nothing is going to change. Keep fingers crossed that's indeed the case!

[MikeT73]

Posted: 7/11/13 at 4:55pm

When anyone says "nothing changes" that usually means "everything changes". nytix.com is still supplying the full list of aggregate discounts, most at no charge. See the link below.
Discount Broadway Ticket List

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 7/11/13 at 5:16pm

As sabrelady mentioned, Playbill Club is still a decent source as is New York Times Ticketwatch. Typically they duplicate each other but occasionally one has something the other doesn't.

[sophie72]

Posted: 7/11/13 at 5:41pm

Now we just cross our fingers and hope for the best. I was given a gift certificate 2 years to broadway world (group of friends went in on the gift) and I was appalled by the fees! The certificate was quite sizable and I still ended up paying out of pocket for 2 tix to Godspell. Yikes!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/11/13 at 7:24pm

You mean Broadway.com -- which has nothing to do with Broadway World OR Broadwaybox.

Yes, Broadway.com is a broker. Ridiculous fees.

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 7/11/13 at 7:51pm

For whatever it is worth, I've noticed far fewer discount codes on broadwaybox lately. Playbill and Theatremania have had codes that broadwaybox has not had. Maybe this is why?

[sophie72]

Posted: 7/11/13 at 7:55pm

Definitely meant broadway.com, my mistake (typing too quickly). Outrageous fees.....

[Luv2goToShows]

Posted: 7/12/13 at 9:06am

Matt, fewer discounts are not unusual this time of the year, so it is probably just a coincidence.

Off Topic, sort of:

One thing I have noticed, a lot new shows have been waiting longer before issuing discounts though. Both online and sending mailers out.

[whatever2]

Posted: 7/12/13 at 12:07pm

> When anyone says "nothing changes" that usually means "everything changes".

Especially when the anyone is about to get a big wad of cash stuffed into their pocket.

I guarantee you there are confidentiality, no negative publicity, and good faith cooperation clauses in both the Letter of Intent and Purchase Agreements. Mazel tov to the sellers, but they're not a reliable source of information.

Also -- and I've seen this a lot -- sellers sometimes are able to negotiate no material changes clauses into Purchase Agreements (i.e., the buyer can't make material changes in personnel and/or operations for some period of time). Once the clause expires (usually a year or two, never more than three), the changes come hard and fast.

For the theater geeks who inhabit this board, that site will become useless.