Transaction, Which Includes Broadway Across America, Will Provide Significant Opportunity to Expand Key Brand’s Reach and Offerings Going Forward

New York, NY – Thursday, January 24, 2008 – Key Brand Entertainment, Inc., a private investment company dedicated exclusively to the development, production and distribution of live theater, announced today that is has acquired Live Nation, Inc.’s North American Theatrical Company. [Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.] Key Brand Entertainment is owned and controlled by British theater producer John Gore. As part of the acquisition, the company will assume control of Broadway Across America, the premier promoter and producer of live theatrical events in the United States, and its Broadway Across Canada subsidiary. Key Brand has also partnered with Dancap Productions, the leading Canadian theater producer and Tokyo Broadcasting System, Inc., the major Japanese television network, in order to tap the potential of the Canadian and Japanese markets for live theatre.

Led by entertainment industry veteran Thomas B. McGrath, Key Brand Entertainment intends to build on the Theatrical Company’s significant expertise and geographic reach to broaden its production platform while simultaneously bringing some of Broadway’s biggest hits to an expanded number of cities across the United States, Canada and Japan. Broadway Across America currently offers the finest national touring theatrical productions, from Wicked to Disney’s The Lion King through its extensive network of more than 40 theatres in the United States and Canada. Last year, the company sold more than 6.4 million tickets as the theater industry continued its 20-year plus track record of growth.

Mr. McGrath and John Gore, who will lead Key Brand Entertainment as chairman and CEO respectively, both bring significant expertise building successful business enterprises in the entertainment industry and are committed to being personally involved in the company’s growth going forward.

“We are extremely pleased to be acquiring one of the theatrical industry’s most powerful franchises and look forward to providing the financial and management stability needed to grow this company into the future,” Mr. Gore said. “We are dedicated to being the absolute best in live theater, and will actively look to acquire intellectual properties that can be developed into major new productions.”

“I intend to contribute ardently to the health of this industry on Broadway and in each city where our shows perform,” Mr. Gore continued. “We see our mission as providing indelible memories and electrifying experiences that will both invigorate existing theatergoers and help beguile new ones.”

"The beauty of this transaction is it brings together people who have an inexhaustible passion for the theater and those who have decades of experience running large entertainment companies,” Mr. McGrath said. “Audiences across the country have shown an increasing appetite for the best theatrical experiences Broadway has to offer, and we are committed to delivering those to them. We are extremely eager to sit down with the top creative talents on Broadway and develop original works that will captivate audiences for years to come. In our increasingly virtual world there is simply no substitute for a live performance.”

Peter Schneider, former head of Walt Disney Theatrical, has agreed to join the board.

As the Canadian member of Key Brand Entertainment, successful business professional and Impresario Aubrey Dan, President of Dancap Productions Inc., has agreed to serve as Chairman of Broadway Across Canada. “Toronto has a long and rich tradition as a world center of great theater, which has always been the cornerstone of our entertainment industry,” said Mr. Dan. “There is a hunger for great Broadway and West End productions here and across the country that we will not only continue to provide, but we will also make it a priority to showcase the vitality and power of Canadian talent.”

J.P. Morgan Chase and Aramid Entertainment Fund provided financing to the transaction. Aramid Entertainment Fund is a Cayman Island-based mezzanine fund which provides liquidity to producers and distributors of entertainment in a variety of asset classes.

Aramid Chairman David Molner was instrumental in structuring the deal and arranging the financing. “I am delighted to have been able to bring together Live Nation and Key Brand in a superior financing structure. John Gore and Tom McGrath are two of the entertainment industry’s leading executives and entrepreneurs whom I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with for going on a decade,” said Mr. Molner who is the founder and managing director of Screen Capital International. SCI is a leading media finance specialist, involved in all aspects of motion picture finance from gap funding to tax credit discounting and over $6 billion in executed transactions.

Key Brand Entertainment will be headquartered in New York City. Former Clear Channel Entertainment President of Theatrical Production, Beth Williams, is being named Chief Operating Officer and Head of Production for Key Brand. Steven Winton and David M. Anderson will continue to serve as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer, respectively, of Broadway Across America. There are no current plans to change the Broadway Across America staffing.

WITH THIS ACQUISITION, KEY BRAND ENTERTAINMENT ASSETS WILL INCLUDE:

• Broadway Across America, the leading presenter of touring live theater throughout North America. Broadway Across America presents Broadway touring productions in 42 cities in North America and owns, operates and/or manages eight venues including Boston’s Colonial Theatre and Charles Playhouse; Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre; Toronto’s Canon Theatre and Panasonic Theatre; and Minneapolis’ State Theatre, Orpheum Theatre and Pantages Theatre. The company has over 265,000 annual subscribers, 25 local presentational partners, 35 unique sponsors and 285 full-time employees.
• Investments in 13 current and upcoming Broadway productions, eight current U.S. touring productions and six West End and U.K. touring productions.
• Family Entertainment Producing Division currently represented by Dora The Explorer and Go, Diego, Go – Live.

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