A PYMNTS Company

Canada: Competition Commissioner stands ground in fight with Ticketmaster

By  |  March 28, 2018

The Commissioner of Competition is not backing down from its fight to stop Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Entertainment from allegedly using a deceptive ticket pricing practice.

    Get the Full Story

    Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required.

    yesSubscribe to our daily newsletter, PYMNTS Today.

    By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.

    In a Tuesday filing with the Competition Tribunal, the law enforcement watchdog challenged a previous claim from the companies that it is standard in e-commerce to advertise ticket prices without including the service fees, facility charges and processing fees that are tacked on later.

    “Any bald suggestion that consumers would somehow be able to divine the actual cost of tickets before the Respondents choose to reveal them is simply incorrect,” said the commissioner in the filing. “Many other e-commerce companies, when promoting other products to consumers, present prices that are in fact attainable as the first price consumers see.”

    The battle between the entertainment Goliaths and the watchdog has been raging since January, when the commissioner asked the tribunal to end alleged deceptive ticket pricing, after the commissioner had demanded that sports and entertainment ticket vendors review their marketing practices and display the full price up front.

    Full Content: The Globe and Mail

    Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.