Clear Channel may have exercised its monopoly power in the radio broadcasting market to artificially increase the price of concert tickets.

Investigation and pending class action lawsuit against Clear Channel Communications Inc., the largest radio broadcasting company in the country, through its subsidiaries, Clear Channel Broadcasting, Inc. and Live Nation, Inc. f/k/a Clear Channel Entertainment.

The class action complaints allege that Clear Channel monopolized and attempted to monopolize regional markets for concert promotion, which include the exclusive right to sell concert tickets, by engaging in anticompetitive conduct including:

(1) Limiting radio airplay of artists who refuse to use Clear Channel's concert promotion services;

(2) Denying promotional air-time to artists who use competing promoters;

(3) Refusing to accept advertising by other concert promoters, charging excess fees for such advertising, or limiting such advertising to undesirable time slots;

(4) Excluding concerts promoted by competitors from radio updates of upcoming concerts;

(5) Inflating fees paid to artists, in some cases more than 100% of gross sales, in order to exclude competitors from the market.

The complaints allege that as a result of defendants' conduct U.S. concert ticket prices rose 61 percent from 1997 to 2002, while the consumer price index rose only 13 percent during the same time period. The complaints seek declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief.