Comcast's Fandango buys Movies.com site

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Entertainment site Fandango.com said on Monday it bought Movies.com from the Walt Disney Co to expand its offering of movies reviews and celebrity news.

Fandango, part of No. 1 U.S. cable operator Comcast Corp, said the acquisition will help it expand the advertising it reaps from movie theaters, studios and other marketers.

Fandango, which also sells movie tickets online, said there was little overlap between the audiences of both sites. Fandango alone attracted 6.3 million monthly unique visitors in May, while Movies.com had 1.9 million visitors, according to Nielsen NetRatings data.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Comcast said last month that its digital unit, which includes Fandango, is on target to turn profitable this year as revenue from search and advertising deals with Google Inc and Yahoo Inc exceed expectations.

Reuters/Nielsen