Ontario opens Ticketmaster investigation
p2pnet news view Music:- Ontario’s attorney general, Chris Bentley, says he’s investigating Ticketmaster sale and pricing practices for entertainment and sporting events in the province.
Ticketmaster is being scalped in the US and Canada for allegedly telling people it’d run out of tickets and then passing them on to TicketsNow.com, a subsidiary selling the same tickets at higher prices.
The company infuriated rock star Bruce Springsteen, and a $500-million class-action lawsuit was launched against it because it violates Canada’s anti-scalping laws, say lawyers.
The firms are acting for Ontario customers who bought tickets through Ticketmaster or TicketsNow.com from and after February 9, 2007, they say, according to the Canwest News Service.
Springsteen blew his top both because of Ticketmaster’s proposed merger with Live Nation, “and because fans were sent to TicketsNow.com, a Ticketmaster resale site, where tickets for one of his shows were being sold at well over the odds,” said p2pnet, going on:
“Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff (right) grovelled to Springsteen that the rip-off was ‘inadvertent’.”
Now, “Bentley didn’t say whether the province would seek compensation for consumers,” says the CBC, going on:
“But he said he has not placed any limits on what the ministry can explore and wants to receive “a range of potential or available options.”
Ticketmaster has been hit with four lawsuits in Canada which allege it violated anti-scalping legislation in three provinces, including Ontario, says the storym, adding:
“None of the allegations have been proven in court.
“Ticketmaster insists it has done nothing illegal.”
Canwest News Service – Ticketmaster faces $500M class-action lawsuit, February 6, 2009
proposed merger – Live Nation, Ticketmaster, merger probe, February 26, 2009
p2pnet – Springsteen angry over Ticketmaster rip-off, February 6, 2009
CBC – Ontario attorney general announces Ticketmaster probe, March 2, 2009
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