Channel 4 have announced that they’ve defeated a High Court injuction from ticket reseller Viagogo to air a documentary about how the website conducts their ticket sales and obtains tickets.
A press release on tomorrow night’s ‘ ‘The Great Ticket Scandal: Dispatches’ (9pm) from Channel said that the documentary is set to reveal that:
The majority of tickets offered for sale through viagogo are not from individual fans but from large scale professional ticket resellers or tickets allocated by promoters to viagogo.
viagogo staff compete directly with real fans to buy tickets from primary ticket sellers, like Ticketmaster, for in demand events as soon as they go on sale. To get around systems put in place to prevent bulk buying of tickets, viagogo staff use multiple credit cards registered to different addresses.
viagogo has a special team dealing with large scale professional ticket resellers – known as “power sellers”, or “brokers” who account for a significant percentage of overall ticket sales on their exchange.
Large-scale ticket reselling has spread beyond the traditional rock and pop gigs. Dispatches found tickets offered for resale way above face value on ‘fan to fan’ exchanges for England’s 6 Nations rugby games; Strictly Come Dancing and The X Factor live tours; West End shows; National Gallery’s Leonardo da Vinci exhibition; and even The Last Night of the Proms.
Secondary websites like viagogo have obligations to be honest to the public under consumer legislation and a leading expert says that some viagogo practices contravene legislation.
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To read the full press release from Channel 4, head to http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/channel-4-dispatches-defeats-injunction-attempt-by-viagogo.