CC against Ticketmaster, Live Nation merger

The Competition Commission (CC) has provisionally ruled that the proposed merger of Live Nation with Ticketmaster will have a negative impact on the development of competition in the sector.

The regulator has published its provisional findings that show the combining of the two ticketing giants could inhibit the entry of competitor CTS Eventin into the UK market.

It noted that prior to the announcement of the merger, Live Nation had signed a deal with CTS to provide ticketing services for its venues and events.

Chairman of the inquiry group Christopher Clarke said: "The merger with Ticketmaster means that Live Nation will have every incentive to inhibit a significant potential rival from entering the UK market and, given the significance to CTS of its agreement with Live Nation in deciding to enter the UK market, we believe that Live Nation would be able to do so.

"We believe that, if the merger proceeds, Live Nation will seek to limit its relationship with CTS, with the effect of putting CTS's future prospects in the UK in considerable doubt."

He added: "We also looked at how the combination of Live Nation, as a promoter and venue operator, with Ticketmaster might adversely affect ticketing agents other than CTS, promoters and venue owners.

"However, we concluded that it was unlikely that the merged company would have both the ability and incentive to harm them significantly, either by Live Nation restricting the availability of its tickets to other agents or by Ticketmaster refusing to sell tickets for other promoters and venues."

The commission will now consider a number of methods to address this potential loss of competition and continue its consultations with US authorities before publishing its final report.