FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 21, 2002

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Paul Loriquet or Chuck Davis (609)292-4791

NEWARK - New Jersey has filed a complaint against an entertainment company for allegedly withholding tickets from the general public during the summer 2002 concerts held at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, Attorney General David Samson and New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs Director Reni Erdos announced today.

Named as defendants in the complaint are GSAC Partners, Inc., a subsidiary of SFX Entertainment, Inc, d/b/a Clear Channel Entertainment, SFX Marketing, Inc., a subsidiary of SFX Entertainment and Clear Channel Communications, Inc., the parent company of SFX Entertainment of New York, New York. Clear Channel Entertainment is the world's largest promoter and marketer of live entertainment.

The complaint alleges that on May 1, 2002, Clear Channel, under a ticket pre-sale contract with American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc., ("Amex"), withheld greater than five percent of tickets for the initial sale to the general public at the PNC Bank Arts Center, contrary to New Jersey law. The State is alleging that Clear Channel offered ticket pre-sales exclusively to American Express cardholders for 33 shows during the summer 2002 concert series at the PNC Bank Arts Center. Some of the featured performers included Jewel, Marc Anthony, Chicago, Santana, Alicia Keys, and Barry Manilow.

"New Jersey State law is very specific about ticket pre-sales," said Attorney General Samson. "Withholding tickets from sale to the general public in an amount exceeding five percent of all available seating for an event is in violation of the law."

"We will not tolerate organizations who withhold ticket sales to the general public," said Director Erdos. "This ticket pre-sale locked out all non-Amex credit card holders and cash paying consumers from the initial sale of tickets to the events. In many cases during the pre-sale, the defendants withheld more than 50 percent of tickets from sale to the general public."

The complaint, filed by the State in Monmouth County Superior Court is seeking a permanent injunction against any future pre-sale activities, statutory civil penalties, costs of the investigation and attorney fees. Clear Channel faces civil penalties in the amount of $10,000 for the first offense and $20,000 for each and every subsequent violation of the Consumer Fraud Act.

In April of 2002, the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act was amended (N.J.S.A. 56:8-35.1) to make it an unlawful practice for "a person, who has access to tickets to an event prior to the tickets' release for sale to the general public, to withhold those tickets from sale to the general public in an amount exceeding 5% of all available seating for the event." The amendment addressed concerns raised by a commission which studied ticket sales in New Jersey.

Deputy Attorney General David M. Puteska is representing the State.