First of all, this news is hardly a surprise but even more...the biggest issue I have with this merger is that both companies are aweful.  To me, this is like two monopolies becoming one.  I don't understand why the Sirius/XM merger was such an issue but this one is not?

Their fees are astronomical, their sites are awful (for example, ticketmaster.com is trounced by stubhub.com which is really so much more streamlined).  What I think needs to happen is that ebay needs to open a ticket selling division. 

Think about it this way.  Live Nation basically scares artists into signing with them because they manage the most major venues in the country and then they are forced, in turn, to sell with Ticketmaster.   Who are the competitors really?  Does our government really consider regional promoters as competitors?  This is a joke. 

Both companies have zero customer service and frankly zero interest in offering any.  They are so busy pushing up-sell's like dinner reservations, they don't care about actually helping you.