US legislators launch probe into the ticketing industry

By Emmanuel Legrand

US legislators have launched an investigation into practices in the live event ticketing industry, looking into "potential unfair and deceptive practices in the live event ticketing industry.” 

  The probe is targeting companies such as Live Nation, Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), StubHub, Vivid Seats, TicketNetwork, and Tickets.com. 

  The initiative came from the House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chair Diana DeGette (D-CO), Subcommittee Ranking Member Brett Guthrie (R-KY), Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and Subcommittee Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA).

Deceptive practices

  In letters to companies from the live sector, they requested detailed information and documents pertaining to the ticketing policies and practices of the companies, as well as a briefing, from the companies.

  The letters reads: “The Committee, which has broad jurisdiction over consumer protection issues, is concerned about potentially unfair and deceptive practices occurring in the primary and secondary ticket marketplace, many of which have been documented in consumer complaints, press stories, and government reports.”

  In 2016, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5104, the Better On-line Ticket Sales At of 2016, which prohibits the use of computer software to purchase tickets by circumventing security measures of ticketing websites. A similar legislation was passed by the Senate and H.R. 5104 became law in December 2016. 

Lack of transparency

However, the Committee noted in the letters that “despite ongoing bipartisan efforts by the Committee, as well as federal agency action to better understand the current ticketing marketplace, consumers still face a host of troubling practices and trends in the ticketing industry.”

  The Committee added: “Many of these issues relate to a lack of transparency and fairness, which places purchasers at an unfair advantage when attempting to buy tickets in the current marketplace.”