Shubert Internet, Inc. is applying to ICANN for the new gTLD, .TICKETS.
As a business, we intend for .TICKETS to realize revenues, but our goal is not to maximize profits, but to build and perpetuate the live performing arts, particularly the professional theatre, and to benefit our community of venues, artists, producers and presenters of legitimate forms of arts and entertainment (collectively, sometimes referred to herein as the “Arts & Entertainment Community”), and related service providers and their designees and agents involved in the sale and distribution of tickets (collectively, sometimes referred to herein as the “Ticketing Services Community”).
The core commercial structure of ticketing of admission to events has evolved from one of local supply and local demand, to today’s global demand and distribution as a result of wide internet ticketing capabilities. While this broader access to event ticketing has been a boon to many suppliers and primary inventory owners, there is significant confusion in the marketplace owing to the wide dispersion of urls and businesses selling on the internet. A new .TICKETS gTLD will inject much needed transparency into this marketplace, by improving the concentration of online ticket distribution into a more uniform internet presence.
At present, no specific .TICKETS domain name, or useful top-level alternative domain name, exists for the Arts & Entertainment Community and the Ticketing Services Community, or people, organizations and businesses that want to communicate with them. Those wanting a domain name that indicates some level of association with or recognition of the Arts & Entertainment Community and the Ticketing Services Community could seek a second level domain name such as theatretickets.com, or theatretickets.org, but such domains (or similar names) are rarely available under the limited number of existing secondary domain names, and more importantly only provide a secondary (at best) or weak (at worst) relationship between the domain name and ticketing for arts and entertainment, which we believe is the primary goal of the registrant of such names. From a competitive perspective, registrants that want a domain name that effectively and efficiently shows an association with the provision of ticketing services for the Arts & Entertainment Community, or registrants that want a domain name that allows them to identifiably communicate with people who associate or identify with the Arts & Entertainment Community and the provision of ticketing services, face a domain name marketplace that provides them with few--if any--options for their purposes. The .TICKETS top-level domain will resolve this problem by providing registrants with an efficient, effective, prominent, instantly understood means of showing their association with tickets and the provision of ticketing services for arts and entertainment, while at the same time providing competition with the existing TLDs and new gTLDs that will be approved by ICANN, thereby increasing consumer choice.
The mission of .TICKETS is to:
- Promote arts and entertainment around the world, with a primary emphasis on the professional theatre.
- Promote the sale of tickets through authorized, official channels and provide the consumer with a clear channel for information about the Arts & Entertainment and Ticketing Services Communities.
- Promote all things related to tickets from legitimate sources for the Arts & Entertainment Community: shows, theatres, issues, causes, interests, perspectives, positions, policies, supporters and admirers by making domain names ending in .TICKETS available to qualified parties to use such .TICKETS domain names for their legal purposes, and by having information of any and all types and for any and all legal and authorized purposes available and disseminated from websites and email addresses ending in .TICKETS for the registrants and users own authorized purposes in the United States and worldwide.
- Provide the Arts & Entertainment Community and the Ticketing Services Community with a forum to communicate information about their forms of entertainment, ticketing information, and related services on the Internet.
- Provide an identifiable means for people, organizations and businesses to communicate with those who associate or identify with the Arts & Entertainment Community, the Ticketing Services Community and the distribution of tickets.
- Increase the number of people and organizations worldwide that publicly identify themselves via the Internet with all things “Tickets” through their use of .TICKETS domain names and email accounts by making such .TICKETS domain names affordable and readily available (subject to compliance with the rules governing .TICKETS discussed elsewhere in this Application).
The purpose of the .TICKETS gTLD is to:
- Provide a central market place for the Arts & Entertainment Community and the Ticketing Services Community to communicate directly with consumers and to provide greater transparency in the ticket distribution process.
- Provide a central market place for buying and selling tickets to arts and entertainment and related services (e.g., travel and lodging) from legitimate sources.
- Provide all those interested and qualified, worldwide, in selling or purchasing ticket-related goods, services, or information with a convenient and recognizable domain name that associates them and⁄or their goods, services, or information with tickets.
- Provide a top-level domain name that provides an identifiable means of communicating with people, organizations and businesses that associate or identify with tickets.
- Provide arts and entertainment venues and their ticketing service providers with an additional choice of available domain names at competitive prices.
ABOUT THE APPLICANT
Shubert Internet, Inc. is a newly formed entity for the purposes of this application. It is funded by its corporate parent, The Shubert Organization, Inc. (“Shubert”). Shubert owns and operates seventeen (17) Broadway theatres and one (1) off-Broadway theatre in mid-town Manhattan. Shubert is generally regarded as the preeminent provider of legitimate theatrical entertainment on Broadway. Shubert (and its predecessors) has been in business for over one hundred years.
Through its ticketing services division, Shubert Ticketing, Shubert provides internet and telephonic ticketing services, including through its website, telecharge.com. Telecharge is the leading provider of ticketing services to Broadway and off-Broadway events, (currently, it provides ticketing services for 27 of the 40 Broadway venues as well as to a number of off-Broadway venues) and, in addition, provides ticketing services for live entertainment events in a number of other venues across the United States. Shubert also owns Broadway Inbound, Inc. and Plum Benefits, LLC. Broadway Inbound provides ticketing services focused on the travel industry and Plum Benefits specializes in marketing forms of live entertainment through human resources departments.
We believe that the introduction and administration of the .TICKETS top level domain is the next logical step in Shubert’s long held position as a respected leader in the arts and entertainment and ticketing distribution fields.
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