Tweeter Yanks Naming Rights

Tweeter Home Entertainment Group Inc. is pulling out of naming-rights deals at an amphitheater in Mansfield, Mass., and three other outdoor concert sites, a spokesman for the financially struggling electronics retailer said Friday.

Tweeter expects within a couple weeks to finalize a tentative agreement to exit the deals with concert venue operator and promoter Live Nation, spokesman Jeff Duhamel told The Associated Press. The Boston Herald first reported the plan Friday.

Tweeter expects to remove its name from the 20,000-seat Tweeter Center in Mansfield by the end of next year’s concert season, Duhamel said.

By the end of this year’s outdoor concert season, the name of Tweeter and affiliated stores it owns will be dropped from three other sites: Tweeter Center at the Waterfront in Camden, N.J.; Sound Advice Amphitheater in West Palm Beach, Fla.; and HiFi Buys Amphitheater in Atlanta.

The step comes two months after Canton-based Tweeter said it would close 49 of its 153 stores and lay off about 650 workers.

Last week, Tweeter said it would consider filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection if it’s unable to obtain additional financing or reach satisfactory settlements with landlords over planned store closures. The company also reported a $35 million loss for the quarter ended March 31, and a 13 percent decline in sales at stores open at least a year.

The 35-year-old company has recently suffered poor sales amid declining prices for flat-panel televisions at chains such as Best Buy Co. and Circuit City Stores Inc., bigger rivals better able to absorb the price war’s low profit margins.

Tweeter has said it hopes to regain its financial footing by targeting customers who want high-end audio and video systems and custom installation.