Oak View Group’s recent acquisition of concert industry trade publication Pollstar "strikes many -- most notably giant promoter and venue operator AEG Presents -- as too cozy," according to Jem Aswad of VARIETY. OVG, which was founded in '15, is "backed by Azoff-MSG Entertainment" and led by former AEG exec Tim Leiweke. The company also "leads the 27-member Arena Alliance, designed to create efficiencies and cooperation between venues." Meanwhile, Pollstar has "long been the definitive chart for the live-entertainment business." Chief competitor Venues Today is "already owned" by OVG. This means OVG "basically owns the live-entertainment media and chart business -- only Billboard Boxscore is a significant competitor in the U.S., and it receives reports from far fewer entities than Pollstar." Due to a perceived "conflict of interest," AEG is "seriously considering not only pulling all of its advertising from Pollstar, but stopping its venues from reporting to it, which would mar the credibility of the publication’s charts." An Azoff-MSG Entertainment source said that both Irving Azoff and MSG's James Dolan were "far more interested in Pollstar’s conferences than its charts." Another source said that "at least so far, Azoff and Leiweke have not ventured into Pollstar’s editorial, and don’t plan to." Aswad reports regardless of the intentions, OVG's acquistion of Pollstar is the "latest salvo in an ongoing turf war between Azoff MSG and AEG Live" (VARIETY.com, 7/25).
