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Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. is an American ticket sales (primary ticket outlet) and distribution company based in West Hollywood, California, with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010 it merged with Live Nation to become Live Nation Entertainment. As a primary ticket outlet, most US ticket sales for US venues are fulfilled at Ticketmaster's two main fulfillment centers located in Charleston, West Virginia, and Pharr, Texas. Typically, Ticketmaster's clients (promoters) control their events, and Ticketmaster acts as an agent, selling the tickets that the clients make available to them. On 10 January 2008, Ticketmaster completed the acquisition of Paciolan Inc. after the deal was subject to months of litigation over the potential breach of antitrust laws. Paciolan is a developer of ticketing system applications and hosted ticketing systems.〔(Yahoo! Business ) Form 10-Q for Ticketmaster〕〔(Ticketnews ) Ticketmaster Acquisition of Paciolan to Face Federal Review. 03 July 2007.〕 Ticketmaster sold Paciolan to Comcast-Spectacor in 2010. In January 2009, Ticketmaster acquired a UK ticket exchange site, Getmein.com.〔(Telegraph UK ) Ticketmaster moves into UK concert resales]〕 Getmein is a ticket exchange site that allows sellers to list the tickets at whatever price they choose. It claims to have over 500,000 tickets listed at any one time. On 10 February 2009, Ticketmaster and Live Nation, the largest concert promoter, officially announced their merger deal.〔(Live Nation and Ticketmaster Agree to Merge ) New York Times. 10 February 2009.〕 After almost a year of review, the two companies merged on 25 January 2010, under the name Live Nation Entertainment (). == Service fees == Much of the price for a ticket advertised by Ticketmaster is earmarked for its own service fees. Consumers often find these markups unreasonably excessive, especially because there are many instances where no alternative purchase method is offered that would allow avoidance of the fees. This business practice, along with a dearth of competitors, has led many to view Ticketmaster as monopolistic. Alternative ticketing companies have emerged, but, due to Ticketmaster's exclusive agreements with a large percentage of venues, the company does not need to lower service fees. In some instances customers may be able to buy tickets directly from the venue, which may add its own service charges.〔 Typical fees added to a ticket's face value include: *Service Charge – This is Ticketmaster's charge for the general service they provide and maintain. The amount paid may depend upon the method of payment (by phone, online, or in person). *Building Facility Charge – This is determined by the venue, and not Ticketmaster. *Processing Charge – This is Ticketmaster's charge for processing an order and making the tickets available. This is usually not a per ticket charge, but rather a per order charge. *Shipping Charge, E-Ticket Convenience Charge, Will Call Charge – Ticketmaster charges a fee for ticket delivery, whether the tickets are mailed to the customer, printed out at home, or collected from the venue. The charge for printing out the ticket at home is often higher than the fee to have the ticket mailed. In other sectors, such as airline ticketing, companies usually do not charge (and in some cases even offer a discount), for electronic ticketing. Economist Emily Oster of the Chicago Booth School of Business suggests that this reflects the lack of competition in the industry, with customers willing to pay more for the convenience of obtaining the tickets immediately due to a lack of alternate options.〔 In most instances service charges amount to up to 50% of a ticket's face value. Ticketmaster has been criticized by some who claim its fees are excessive, with forty British MPs signing an early day motion criticizing the company for overcharging and for the lack of transparency in its pricing structure. In 2003, a class action lawsuit was filed against Ticketmaster in Los Angeles District Court alleging that Ticketmaster misrepresented the exact nature of the shipping and processing fees included in certain ticket sales. That dispute then spilled over into a related lawsuit filed in 2010 against Ticketmaster’s liability insurance carrier Illinois Union Insurance Company, a subsidiary of ACE Limited ().〔(Ticketmaster LLC Locks Horns with ACE Group Company Over Errors and Omissions Coverage ) Ace Insurance Litigation Watch. 13 Jan. 2011.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ticketmaster」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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