So Long to Affordable Concerts

It seems that Ticketmaster (a company that I maintain is truly evil) and Live Nation are looking at a merger deal.

This is distressing news for anyone who wants to go to concerts, live shows, or sports games. If you've ever purchased tickets from Ticketmaster before, surely you are familiar with the convenience charges and fees (why would you need to charge a fee to print tickets at home!?) that they levy on their customers. I paid close to $55 each for my $42 lawn seats at the Radiohead show at Blossom this summer. In addition, unless you are ready to pounce on tickets to big shows on the day that they become available, you won't be paying anywhere close to box office price; Ticketmaster permits scalpers to buy up as many tickets as they can, who in turn jack up the prices to exorbitant levels!

The worst part of the whole ordeal is that since XM and Sirius were allowed to merge last year, there's a much better chance of this receiving the green light than I would have originally imagined.

What do you think?

http://consumerist.com/5150795/ticketmaster-and-live-nation-agree-to-merge