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Business News Live Business
LiveMaster merger gets UK approval
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 22 December 2009
The Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger has received the green light, in the UK at least. While the British Competition Commission expressed concerns about the two firm’s merger proposals in a preliminary report back in October, today it said it didn’t feel a combined LiveMaster would have any negative impact on the UK live entertainment sector.
Although the Commission itself admitted that such a total change of heart between a preliminary and final report in a merger investigation was “unusual”, the u-turn is perhaps not a total surprise. The Commission’s concerns centred on one particular complaint, from a German rival to Ticketmaster called CTS Eventim.
As previously reported, somewhat ironically Live Nation stopped using Ticketmaster’s services just a couple of months before they announced their intent to merge with the ticketing giant. The live music major took its ticketing in-house, and hired the services of CTS to help it with that venture in Europe. As CTS don’t currently operate in the UK, that deal would mean the German firm entering the British market for the first time.
Although the German firm quickly issued a statement when the merger was first announced saying it wouldn’t affect their deal with Live Nation, they later complained to the Competition Commission that a merged LiveMaster would not fully embrace the new partnership. That, CTS said, might mean they wouldn’t bother launching in the UK at all, which would, in turn, make the British ticketing marketing less competitive.
But the Commission now seems reassured that Live Nation’s obligations to work with CTS are binding and that their partnership will go ahead despite the merger. And while the live music conglom probably won’t now expand that partnership in the ways CTS had originally hoped, the Commission says that does not pose a serious obstacle to the German firm launching in the UK.
Many of Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s competitors say the merger will give the combined company too much power in the live music market, allowing them to strong arm artists into unfavourable deals and push up ticket prices. But in the US, where the regulator’s review of the merger has been much more public, the two companies have argued that as a result of the merger some of Live Nation’s competitors – most notably AEG Live – will stop using Ticketmaster and go elsewhere for ticketing services, thus making the market more competitive.
Regulators in other countries, most notably the US, are still investigating the merger. While US approval would normally be a given if European regulators are in support, some see this merger as a test for the Obama government and their willingness to stand up to overly ambitious big business. Nevertheless, it’s thought the deal will ultimately be approved worldwide, albeit with the possibility of some conditions to get the OK in the US.
