A New Chapter In The Ticketmaster Flap
As Congress and the Justice Department continue to examine Ticketmaster's planned $2.5 billion all-stock merger with Live Nation, the ticket-selling giant has found itself in hot water again. TicketsNow.com, a secondary ticket resale site owned by Ticketmaster oversold thousands of tickets to a Monday night Bruce Springsteen concert in Washington and then contacted customers who bought passes at inflated prices to tell them they didn't have the premium seats they thought they had. As a result, D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles has issued subpoenas in an investigation into Ticketmaster's resale practices. Nickles told FOX 5 News it will take about 10 days for his office to receive documents pertaining to those transactions. Ticketmaster apologized and promised never to link concertgoers to their own resale Web site in a manner that would create any future confusion.
Meanwhile, Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., who first brought congressional attention to the Ticketmaster/TicketsNow relationship, has proposed banning the use of automated ticketing programs and reign in the secondary ticket market. Pascrell testified before a House Judiciary Courts and Competition Policy Subcommittee hearing earlier this year and a similar examination was held by the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee. Pascrell also asked the FTC to launch an investigation. "Time and time again Ticketmaster has claimed that these repeated incidents of price gouging and consumer fraud represent exceptions and not the rule," Pascrell said in a statement. "This most recent incident makes it clear as day that we need more transparency and accountability in the secondary ticket market." Read CongressDaily's Ticketmaster coverage here, here, and here.
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