The Justice Department declined to bring an antitrust case against Ticketmaster, the nation's largest distributor of tickets to concerts and sports events, because new companies are entering the business now as competitors, Attorney General Janet Reno said Thursday.
She told her weekly news conference that the department's antitrust division "found new enterprises were coming into the business. . . . So it did not seem an appropriate time" to bring a case charging monopoly activity.A department store in the Southwest "has been making a significant run into the ticket business," said one department official, who spoke on condition of not being identified by name.
In addition, it's "a reasonable inference" that the ability of Ticket-master's most prominent critic, the rock band Pearl Jam, to conduct a tour without the company's help this summer was another factor in the decision announced late Wednesday, this official said.
In a statement Thursday, Pearl Jam said consumers will be hurt most by the Justice Department's "cave-in."
"What we've accomplished over the past year was to raise awareness of Ticketmaster's anti-consumer practices. And what we've learned is that touring without Ticketmaster is a difficult and tiresome process," the statement said.
"Nevertheless, we have no plans at this time to use Ticketmaster and will continue to work on behalf of our fans to keep tickets affordable and accessible to everyone."
Although Ticketmaster won't have to defend itself against federal antitrust charges, its problems aren't over.
New York's attorney general has been looking into whether state antitrust violations occurred, and consumers have mounted a group of class action lawsuits.
The Los Angeles-based company had been under investigation by the Justice Department's antitrust division for alleged anticompetitive and monopoly practices.
The company sold 55 million tickets last year for an estimated $1.6 billion. Pearl Jam said the company priced tickets too high for the band's teenage fans.
The Justice Department said it had informed the parent company, Ticketmaster Holdings Group Inc., that it was "closing its antitrust investigation into that firm's contracting practices."