SFX Entertainment, the company that has grown to dominate the U.S. concert promotions business over the last three years, has been renamed Clear Channel Entertainment.

Clear Channel Communications acquired SFX last year. The $4.4 billion deal combined the largest concert promoter in the United States with the country's largest radio station owner.

According to company statements, Clear Channel Entertainment owns and/or exclusively books 135 live entertainment venues--including 44 amphitheaters in the U.S. and 28 in Europe. Besides its concert-related interests, the company's parent--San Antonio, Texas-based Clear Channel Communications--owns nearly 1,200 radio stations and 17 television stations in the U.S., and also operates 700,000 billboards and other outdoor advertising displays.

Though a Clear Channel press release said that the name-change would go into effect immediately, SFX.com--a website that has been widely advertised over the last year as a source for ticketing and concert information--still carried the SFX branding on Monday (7/9).

The SFX name will continue to be associated with Clear Channel's sports marketing and management groups.