House, Senate Plan Ticketmaster Hearings

About a week after promotion giant Live Nation formally announced its intention to buy Ticketmaster, a company that does much of its concert ticket business on the Internet, Congress is getting involved. Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl, D-Wis., has announced a Feb. 24 hearing that will examine the deal and what it means for consumers and the future of the concert business. He and the subcommittee's top Republican, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, issued a statement shortly after the company's announcement saying the merger should be closely reviewed. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy has also announced a similar hearing on Feb. 26. Witnesses for the hearings have not yet been announced.

"Any merger between two companies who would otherwise compete against each other raises significant antitrust concern when those companies already have significant market power," House Subcommittee Chairman Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said, noting the proposed merger "deserves serious scrutiny for any anticompetitive impact." House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers added the hearing would be the first test of the Obama administration's antitrust policy. Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., was the first to speak out about the deal as well as recent allegations that Ticketmaster sent Bruce Springsteen fans to a subsidiary Web site that sold concert seats at a premium cost. source>>>

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