Ticketmaster and Live Nation merger given go-ahead

14 May 2010



The Competition Commission (CC) has given the green light for the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation after doubts were expressed over whether it would disadvantage other firms. Merger plans were accepted by the CC in December 2009, but these came to a halt after CTS Eventim issued a challenge to the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

Before the merger had been put forward, Live Nation entered into an agreement that allowed it to sell its own tickets using software provided by German company Eventim. The continental firm was then given a proportion of Live Nation's tickets to sell in a bid to give it a foothold in the UK market.

Doubts over whether the merger would affect this deal were therefore expressed, which the CC have now dismissed. Christopher Clarke, CC Deputy Chairman and Chairman of the Inquiry Group, said: "We found that these disputes did not undermine materially our analysis of the impact of the merger."

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Posted by Diane Gill

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