Ireland’s competition watchdog has summoned officials from Ticketmaster, Viagogo and StubHub as its investigation into the secondary ticketing sector continues.
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) began a formal investigation of “suspected breaches of competition law” in the ticketing of live events shortly after an outcry when U2 tickets were being offered at massively inflated prices on Seatwave just moments after the concerts were sold out through parent company Ticketmaster.
The CCPC has held 10 hearings with people in the industry, who have been questioned under oath.
In addition, authorities have obtained more than a quarter of a million emails and other electronic documents as part of the investigation, which was opened more than a year ago in January 2017.
In a statement issued yesterday, the CCPC said that the investigation concerned “suspected breaches of competition law”.
The CCPC last year filed requirements for information with secondary selling sites, ticketing sites and promoters. The commission skipped a voluntary request for the data and instead forced the companies to hand over the relevant information.
It said: “The focus of the investigation is primarily on potentially anti-competitive conduct by operators in the sector, and is looking at issues such as exclusive arrangements, rebates and high service charges by operators involved in providing tickets and ticketing services.”
Image: Daniel Hazard
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