US Dept. of Justice Asks for Concessions on Ticketmaster/Live Nation Merger

[Acturus]

The US DOJ asked for basically nothing in allowing this merger. The largest holder of entertainment venues merges with the largest distributer of entertainment event tickets.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj

JANUARY 25, 2010, 3:28 P.M. ET

DOJ Requires Concessions in Ticketmaster-Live
By ETHAN SMITH And THOMAS CATAN

After nearly a year of review, the Justice Department on Monday set the conditions under which it will permit concert promoter Live Nation Inc. to merge with ticket-selling and artist-management powerhouse Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc., in a deal that could reshape the music industry.

As laid out in a briefing in Washington, the conditions appeared relatively straightforward and shouldn't pose major obstacles, thereby clearing the way for the creation of single entity that will be able to manage artists, book them in venues which it owns and sell tickets to their concerts. It will also be able to sell merchandise, run fan clubs, and in some cases sell recorded music.

The Justice Department said in a statement that the conditions would "preserve competition" in the U.S. ticketing business.

"We were prepared to litigate this case, and I told the parties that," Christine Varney, the head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, told reporters.

Ticketmaster must sell its ticketing company within 60 days to Comcast-Spectacor.
The decision was being closely watched by business as a barometer of how the Obama Justice Department will treat proposed mergers. Since her appointment, Ms. Varney has warned that businesses should expect much harsher antitrust scrutiny of mergers than was the case under the administration of George W. Bush. But its decision to approve the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation —albeit with significant conditions—is likely to prompt criticism from some quarters that the Justice Department's bark is worse than its bite.

Both Ticketmaster and Live Nation issued statements indicating that they would accept the conditions and proceed wit the merger.

Shares in each company shot up in by more than 16% in Monday afternoon trading.

Under the conditions set forth by the Justice Department, the merged company would need to sell off a unit that sells tickets to college sporting events, and would need to license its ticketing software to rival concert promoter AEG Live, so that company can launch a competing service.

An AEG spokesman did not have an immediate comment but said the company would have a statement shortly.

Ticketmaster must sell its ticketing company Paciolan Inc. within 60 days to Comcast Corp. subsidiary Comcast-Spectacor, a sports and entertainment company, or another suitable buyer. The department said Comcast-Spectacor already has signed a letter of intent to buy the Paciolan assets

The company also would be barred from retaliating against venue operators who want to use ticketing services from competitors. For instance, the merged company would be prevented from blocking artists it represents from playing in those venues.

Live Nation stages more concerts and concert tours than any other promoter, and owns or operates 75 major venues in the U.S. Ticketmaster sells tickets for the majority of major sports and entertainment venues in the U.S., and has an artist management division that handles the affairs of hundreds of the biggest acts in pop, rock and country.

The chief executives of the two companies have previously said they would like to use their combined power to set ticket prices that more accurately reflect their market value. In Monday's press conference, Ms. Varney said: "We expect that we will see (ticket prices) coming down" as a result of the conditions announced.

—Brent Kendall contributed to this article
Write to Ethan Smith at [email protected]

I didn't know that this merger happened a year ago. This is all news to me. But the concessions is new news today.

[Rhinox]

Comcast is buying out GE and NBC and Google is expanding its ever growing empire and their worried about this? nice

[Dmitry]

I'm sure Ticketmaster will find a way to add as many fees to tickets still just to make back money from the "lower ticket prices".

[Yuri-G]

I'm confused... is Ticketmaster being forced to sell off their ticketing division? And if so... what else do they do?

The article says they are but then implies they're not, and my reading comprehension is not up to par today apparently.

also, lol @ anyone trusting anything Ticketmaster or LiveNation say. you'd have to be a bunch of brainless idiots to... oh right, DoJ.

[Plow]

I'm confused... is Ticketmaster being forced to sell off their ticketing division? And if so... what else do they do?

The article says they are but then implies they're not, and my reading comprehension is not up to par today apparently.

A portion of it, specifically the "company within the company" that does college sports tickets.


In other words even the biggest live entertainment merger in history can't fuck with the university presidents.