Schumer Tells Ticketmaster to Sell TicketsNow
By Matt Unangst
Not satisfied with Ticketmaster’s settlement with New Jersey, New York Senator Charles Schumer has continued his assault on the company, telling them today that it should sell TicketsNow, the ticket resale site that was at the center of the Bruce Springsteen controversy. Schumer rejected Ticketmaster’s description of the incident as a mere software glitch, calling it “more about money than malfunction,” a statement supported by his observation that a ticket sold on Ticketmaster netted the company $7 while a ticket sold on TicketsNow netted $30.
Ticketmaster’s CEO has said that he would not have bought any ticket resale sites if he had been in charge of the company when it bought TicketsNow, but he also says that there should be no resale sites at all, mostly because they hurt Ticketmaster’s dominance of all things ticket.
Schumer’s demand came at a Senate antitrust hearing on Ticketmaster’s proposed merger with Live Nation, a merger Schumer has vocally criticized in the past. Venue owners have complained that they would be screwed out of money in the new deal because they would have no other option than to use the giant company, to which Live Nation’s CEO, Michael Rapino, responded by saying that the company’s concert division would not share information with its ticketing division. He claimed the merger was essential if either company were to survive.
There is absolutely no way that the monster ticketing company will actually keep its divisions from cooperating. They may not directly share information, but they will certainly find ways to let the other division know what needs to be done to maximize profits for the company. Rapino even hedged his response that he supported a firewall between divisions “in theory,” signaling that the company has no intention of playing by the rules. I think the merger will be allowed to pass through the Senate, especially if Ticketmaster sells TicketsNow to pacify Schumer, screwing us all.
Source: Yahoo! News
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Saturday, March 28, 2009 11:39PM
Schumer is a dangerous scumbag. I discovered that the first time while watching "Waco, Rules of Engagement". In that documentary (a very good one), Shumer basically defends the government against any wrongdoing, while condemning the rights of American citizens. The fact that he is still around is a testament to the corrupt nature of government.
Monday, April 6, 2009 3:01PM
[...] goers a fair chance at lower prices, and not have to resort to the secondary market. Schumer, who demanded in February that Ticketmaster sell TicketsNow, said in a statement that “the bottom line is [...]