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Competition Commission extends Live Master investigation
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 6 November 2009
The UK Competition Commission has announced it has extended its inquiry into the proposed merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster by a whole eight weeks, meaning it won’t rule on the proposals before the New Year.
As previously reported, in its provisional report last month the Commission said it had concerns that a Live Master merger would result in less competition in the UK ticketing market, mainly because it would potentially stop German ticketing giant CTS from launching in the country, as they had originally planned to (because CTS had planned to launch here via a partnership with Live Nation).
Confirming the extension of the inquiry, the Commission said it has received a substantial number of responses on the merger and that it needed more time to consider them. The competition body is looking into possible remedies that might alleviate their concerns about the deal – most likely selling off some of either Live Nation or Ticketmaster’s UK assets.
The Commission said in a statement: “The range of possible remedies is complex, and the group wishes to explore all the possible remedies with both the parties to the merger and third parties. As the proposed merger is being investigated by competition authorities in other geographic markets, the CC’s guidance also requires the group to consult with relevant competition authorities in other jurisdictions to seek consistency and effectiveness in its approach to remedies”.
