Ticketmaster subsidiary TicketsNow has reached an agreement with the Illinois attorney general to shut down a number of Web sites where brokers sold tickets to popular events at markups.
Under the agreement, TicketsNow will pay $50,000 to Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office following her investigation, which was spurred by consumer complaints over tickets to Hannah Montana and Bruce Springsteen concerts.
“Our investigation revealed that consumers who purchased concert tickets at TicketsNow Web sites often believed they were purchasing tickets from the actual event operators for their original value,” Madigan said in a statement.
“This agreement will substantially impact how the TicketsNow online brokers market popular event tickets so that consumers clearly understand that they are making purchases from a ticket reseller at marked-up rates.”
In addition to the more stringent rules regarding ticket broker identification, TicketsNow will no longer offer tickets to concerts on any of its affiliated sites prior to the Ticketmaster onsale date, the statement said.
TicketsNow has reportedly disabled more than 100 sites that the AG’s office said misled consumers with URLs that included the names of venues, sports teams and performers.