Live Nation & Ticketmaster Face Congress

Ticketmaster's Irving Azoff and Live Nation's Michael Rapino sat as witnessed before Senate judiciary committee hearing yesterday defending the merger of the two live music titans as neccessary to stay competitive.  Countering the calim were two veteran indie promoters from Baltimore and Chicago whose competitiveness seemed to move lawmakers skeptical of the deal.

With US House hearing scheduled for Thursday and Justice Department and other probes promised, the 
Live Nation Ticketmaster merger process is just getting started.

Viewpoints from around the net:

• The Wall St Journal's Deal Maker live blogged
• Ticketmaster, Live Nation defend deal (Boston Globe)
• Senators grill Ticketmaster’s chief (Detroit Free Press)
• Live Nation and Ticketmaster face skeptical lawmakers (Reuters)