Billboard is reporting that two of my personal least favorite companies, Ticketmaster and Cablevision—the latter of which counts Madison Square Garden and the MTV-in-Pull-Ups network Fuse among its holdings—are on the verge of collectively acquiring a 49% stake in AEG Live, the second-largest concert promoter in the United States. (AEG's tours—which included Hannah Montana and Bon Jovi—took in $742 million last year, according to Billboard; the ever-expanding Live Nation was in the pole position.) According to sources, Fuse is in fact a key part of the deal, and the channel will be aggressively rebranded so that it can show the world that "AEG Live [is] a company now armed with a large media component and the world's largest ticketing company in Ticketmaster." But don't change that dial just yet! That MBA mumbo-jumbo just means that you'll probably be able to watch more live broadcasts of AEG Live-booked shows that just happen to be taking place at Fuse's neighbor across the street, Madison Square Garden—not to mention festivals like Coachella and All Points West, which AEG also has a hand in booking. And wait, there's more!
More »
Despite its tendencies toward overusing the phrase "guilty pleasures" in its show descriptions and booking anyone who will show up on its evening talk show The Sauce, I have a soft spot in my heart for the music-television also-ran Fuse; sure, it's due in part to the channel's roots as MuchMusic USA, but it is awful nice to see at least one entity out there fighting Viacom's bleep-happy monopoly on televised music, and I want the channel to thrive without resorting to reruns of its sister network's shows. Which is why I got kind of excited when I clicked over from The Daily Show to see the channel performing a neat bit of programming magic: It was broadcasting the Foo Fighters' show at New York's Madison Square Garden, allegedly live and definitely commercial-free, as part of its new series Fuse Rocks The Garden. While the video quality of the show was somewhat cameraphone-level at times, I thought that the idea behind it—giving viewers a chance to see a sold-out concert from the comfort of their own homes—was finally a way for the channel to use its corporate backer's resources wisely.
More »
Latest by JDel: @Maura Johnston: Allegedly live indeed...at the show Grohl actually announced that the concert would be airing on Fuse in about an hour, so everyone should call home and set their TiVos.
Still a great concept though. more »
Idolator
Is the 
Billboard is reporting that two of my personal least favorite companies, Ticketmaster and Cablevision—the latter of which counts Madison Square Garden and the MTV-in-Pull-Ups network Fuse among its holdings—are on the verge of collectively acquiring a 49% stake in AEG Live, the second-largest concert promoter in the United States. (AEG's tours—which included Hannah Montana and Bon Jovi—took in $742 million last year, according to Billboard; the ever-expanding Live Nation was in the pole position.) According to sources, Fuse is in fact a key part of the deal, and the channel will be aggressively rebranded so that it can show the world that "AEG Live [is] a company now armed with a large media component and the world's largest ticketing company in Ticketmaster." But don't change that dial just yet! That MBA mumbo-jumbo just means that you'll probably be able to watch more live broadcasts of AEG Live-booked shows that just happen to be taking place at Fuse's neighbor across the street, Madison Square Garden—not to mention festivals like Coachella and All Points West, which AEG also has a hand in booking. And wait, there's more!
More »
