FTC expected to propose settlement in flap over Bruce Springsteen ticket sales

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The Federal Trade Commission is expected to require Live Nation Entertainment Inc.’s Ticketmaster unit to provide refunds to people who purchased -- but never received -- tickets to a Bruce Springsteen concert that never arrived, according to the Wall Street Journal.

As many as 1,000 people who attempted to buy tickets to a May 18 concert in Washington, D.C., through the company’s TicketsNow.com resale service never received them, the newspaper reported.

An FTC spokeswoman declined comment. Neither Live Nation nor Springsteen’s manager could be reached Wednesday.

The Boss had criticized Ticketmaster last year for its handling of the ‘Working on a Dream’ concert tour, saying fans complained of being directed to buy tickets at inflated prices through the TicketsNow site, even though regularly-priced seats were still available through Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster issued an apology.

It is unclear whether the FTC settlement with Live Nation deals with this issue.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation merged last month, after making several concessions to receive regulatory approval from the U.S. Department of Justice.

-- Dawn C. Chmielewski