Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission secures commitments from Ticketmaster

15/12/20

Today the Irish High Court granted an application by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (the Commission) for an order in the terms of an agreement between the Commission and Ticketmaster Ireland, whereby Ticketmaster will remove exclusivity clauses from its agreements for the supply of ticketing services to concert venues, and limit the duration of exclusivity in Ticketmaster’s contracts with live event organisers to three years.

Following a near four-year investigation, the Commission’s case was that Ticketmaster had entered into long-term, exclusive agreements with promoters and venues for the supply of outsourced primary ticketing services to live events, with the consequence that competitors were being unjustifiably excluded from the market. Ticketmaster denied breaching EU and Irish competition law, but agreed to give commitments to modify its supply arrangements. 

This is only the third time the Irish High Court has made an order that makes commitments binding on the party concerned.

Details of the Commission’s investigation and agreement with Ticketmaster are here.

An article on the same subject also appeared in The Irish Independent, and is here.