Add Ontario, CAN’s Ministry of the Attorney General to the list of government entities reviewing the business practices of Ticketmaster Entertainment and is subsidiary TicketsNow.
Both companies have drawn a rash of criticism North of the Border in recent months for high convenience charges and the alleged rerouting of customers from the Ticketmaster Web site to the TicketsNow site where tickets are resold for more money. And now, according to The Canadian Press, Attorney General Chris Bentley has begun exploring different options of how to deal with complaints against the companies.
The complaints led to fans filing several class action lawsuits in Canada, which claim the companies have unfairly treated customers.
For its part, Ticketmaster has staunchly defended its business practices, but recently settled a complaint with New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram concerning the company’s handling of Bruce Springsteen ticket sales. The company did not admit wrongdoing, but agreed to pay $350,000 and stop some of its business practices, such as selling tickets from TicketsNow to events before tickets are publicly available.
The criticisms and lawsuits come at a crucial time for Ticketmaster, as it tries to gain federal regulatory approval of its proposed merger with Live Nation. Not only have various groups come out against the merger, the National Association of Ticket Brokers late last week blasted the plan, in part because Ticketmaster Entertainment CEO Irving Azoff and Live Nation President and CEO Michael Rapino called for the abolishment of the secondary ticket market.
Azoff also said he would be willing to sell TicketsNow, realizing that Ticketmaster’s ownership of it has caused the company problems.
More TicketMaster/LiveNation merger news
Last Updated on March 10, 2009
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Yea, now they call for the abolishment of the secondary ticket market. While Azoff may want it, many at TM don’t because the secondary market brokers are their bread and butter. I worked for TM and was responsible for enforcing ticket limits. The existing rule was that if someone exceeded the limit and 3 criteria on their orders matched then they were cancelled. Some at TM were pushing further and had me investigate the practices of some brokers who had ways of subverting the timit limit rules and eventually tens of thousands of dollars worth of tickets were getting cancelled every month. Then, support for ticket limit enforcement dwindled. At first i didn’t know why or where the opposition was coming from, but enforcement efforts were curtailed. When I put pressure on them to decide if they wanted limits enforced or not I was rebuffed and never given an answer. The bottom line is that TM likes it when brokers purchase tickets because TM gets their money up front fast.
Then, seeing all the money in the secondary market they created and began to send inventory over to Ticket Exchange to sell. I know for a fact that TM sent inventory directly to exchange for some concerts that was never available for the general public. Then the ultimate slap in the face is when they bought TicketsNow.com. When that occurred I voiced the concern that they could do the same thing with TicketsNow that they did with Exchange and simply shift inventory so that the tickets could bring a better price. My point was that you cannot have it both ways. You cannot tell the public that you are enforcing ticket limits and telling them that you are battling the brokers for them on one hand. (This happened after the Hannah Montana fiasco) Then on the other hand you create Exchange and buy TicketsNow and wholeheartedly embrace the secondary market. Those two positions do not mesh.
I have no evidence that these claims by the Springsteen fans are legit because I was not there during this fiasco. I was terminated shortly after the TicketsNow acquisition and while I cannot prove it I believe it had something to do with my concerns. But, given what i do know I find that these claims are likely legit and Ticketmaster just got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. So, good luck but an investigation definitely needs to dive deeper into this.
i have taken an active role in opposing the merger and would like to speak with you too. it would be very beneficial to our fight. please call me at 754-581-5646.
Call me, 647-261-9379
Wow… There it goes, folks…