BloggingStocks http://www.bloggingstocks.com BloggingStocks http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/media/feedlogo.gif BloggingStocks http://www.bloggingstocks.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Ticketmaster receives subpoenas from the U.S. Justice Department]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/04/06/ticketmaster-receives-subpoenas-from-the-u-s-justice-department/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/04/06/ticketmaster-receives-subpoenas-from-the-u-s-justice-department/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/04/06/ticketmaster-receives-subpoenas-from-the-u-s-justice-department/#commentsFiled under: ,

With a potential playoff position looming for my Columbus Blue Jackets, I have been looking into the possibility of purchasing tickets online. I don't live in Columbus, and I can't take the time to go and camp out in front of the arena for tickets the night before - so I am willing to suck it up and actually pay the service fees that *gulp* Ticketmaster (NASDAQ: TKTM) charges. Of course, I guess I could suck it up like so many Leonard Cohen fans did and try to get the tickets through a ticket broker (and pay a ton of money), right?

Continue reading Ticketmaster receives subpoenas from the U.S. Justice Department

Ticketmaster receives subpoenas from the U.S. Justice Department originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>government investigationGovernmentInvestigationlive nationLiveNationticket resaleTicketmasterTicketResaleticketsnowMon, 06 Apr 2009 14:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Ticketmaster gobbles up the competition to enter reselling marketplace]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/01/15/ticketmaster-gobbles-up-the-competition-to-enter-reselling-marke/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/01/15/ticketmaster-gobbles-up-the-competition-to-enter-reselling-marke/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/01/15/ticketmaster-gobbles-up-the-competition-to-enter-reselling-marke/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Ticketmaster envelopeEveryone's favorite Pearl Jam foe, Ticketmaster, is targeting the competition by merely absorbing it. The subsidiary of IAC/InterActive (NASDAQ: IACI) is scooping up TicketsNow Inc. for about $265 million. TicketsNow, which sold $202 million worth of tickets in 2006, is currently the country's second-largest reseller of tickets for concerts and sporting events. Number one in the resale business (a market with an overall estimated annual value of $2.5 billion to $5 billion in the U.S.) is StubHub - a division of eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY).

Many of the sellers on StubHub, TicketsNow, and other sites procure their tickets originally from Ticketmaster, but Ticketmaster currently misses out on any profit gleaned from a resale. The Wall Street Journal notes that "Where resellers once were viewed as shady scalpers, now, thanks largely to the Internet, they are becoming more respectable."

TicketsNow, according to the article, is primarily a tool for professional ticket brokers, who acquire tickets from Ticketmaster and other sources and then sell to customers. The site currently charges buyers 15% on top of the sale price, and charges variable sellers' fees depending on sales volume and additional factors. Hopefully, with the two ticket names in cahoots, it doesn't essentially mean that Ticketmaster will be earning twice from the sale of a single ticket. But as the Journal points out, "The acquisition raises potentially thorny questions for TIcketmaster..."

It's been a busy year for Ticketmaster in the news ... this deal comes after concert promoter LiveNation vowed to sever ties with Ticketmaster but ahead of a planned spin-off of Ticketmaster into its own publicly traded entity.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Ticketmaster gobbles up the competition to enter reselling marketplace originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>concert ticketsConcertTicketsebayiacipearl jamPearlJamscalpersstubhubticket resaleticketmasterTicketResaleticketsnowTue, 15 Jan 2008 17:00:00 EST<![CDATA[New York legalizes ticket scalping -- why not?]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/06/03/new-york-legalizes-ticket-scalping-why-not/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/06/03/new-york-legalizes-ticket-scalping-why-not/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/06/03/new-york-legalizes-ticket-scalping-why-not/#commentsFiled under: , ,

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer signed a bill last week eliminating state-imposed price restriction on reselling event tickets, effectively legalizing scalping. More and more states have been repealing anti-scalping laws in recent years, paving the way for companies like eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) subsidiary StubHub to create a market for the resale of tickets.

As "deregulation" of scalping continues, StubHub and similar companies should prosper. It's hard to understand why it's taken so long for so many states to eliminate these antiquated laws. According to the Boston Globe, "The justification for anti-scalping laws has been the desire to prevent fans from paying exorbitant amounts for tickets."

But if someone wants to pay $5,000 for a ticket to see the Rolling Stones, why would the government interfere? Who exactly is being protected when the state tells a guy who wants to buy a ticket from someone who wants to sell it that he's not allowed to see the concert.

There's really no economics-based justification for anti-scalping laws. It appears to be a reaction to the unsavory perception of the business, but I can think of plenty of other unsavory industries that are perfectly legal. Now I'm going to go look at my cell phone bill and try to figure out why it's so high.

New York legalizes ticket scalping -- why not? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 03 Jun 2007 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>anti-scalping lawsAnti-scalpingLawsConcertsEliot SpitzerScalpingStubHubticket resaleticket scalpingTicketmasterTicketsSun, 03 Jun 2007 15:10:00 EST