Congressman Pascrell's Statement In Response To The United Kingdom Competition Commission's Reversal Of Its Opposition To The Ticketmaster-Live Nation Merger

Statement

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-8) today released the following statement in response to the United Kingdom Competition Commission's reversal of its opposition to the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger.

"Obviously, I am disappointed with the UK Competition Commission's ruling today, and hope this only renews the resolve of our regulators at the US Department of Justice," said Pascrell, who testified against the merger in a House Judiciary Committee hearing in February. "The Commission clearly states that the deal it sanctioned today allows Ticketmaster to remove a major competitor in the ticketing services market in the United States, but that finding is not within the scope of their authority. While in the United Kingdom they only control about 50 percent of the market, the two companies combined control between 70 to 80 percent of the market here in the United States."

In July, Pascrell sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney bearing the signatures of 50 Congress members urging her to block the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation.

To raise the public's awareness of how consumers would be affected, Rep. Pascrell last week joined with concert promoters, ticket brokers, and consumer-advocacy groups on Capitol Hill to launch TICKETDISASTER.ORG. The website details how the merger would quell competition in the American live-entertainment industry.

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