Print Your Own Tickets

Online ticket buyers using Ticketmaster.com will eventually be able to download and print their own tickets, using a new system unveiled Tuesday.

Buyers will be able to print from their computer a ticket with a bar code - like those on supermarket products - to be recognized by a scanning device at the ticketed event.

A prototype of the Internet ticket service was displayed Tuesday at the International Ticketing Association Conference in Albuquerque, N.M.

Ticketmaster.com, part of Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch, said that buyers of online tickets also will be offered other services such as directions to the event, parking information and discounts on event merchandise and restaurants in the event's area.

Tom Stockham, executive vice president of Ticketmaster.com, said a few dozen venues will be ready to accept such tickets beginning in April.

He said the company expects that by the end of 2000, up to 25 percent of online customers eligible to print their own tickets will do so - but the overall number of online ticket sales is not expected to rise significantly because of the service.

Ticketmaster.com plans to share the cost of deploying the necessary scanners and database systems with the venues.

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