Brokers snatch joy from Hannah Montana fans

[Sequoia]

It's 7 p.m. Homework is done, and cheerleading practice is over. Miley Cyrus plays the popular Hannah Montana on a hit Disney Channel show.

Sisters Cara and Casey Von Minden, and their cousin, Amanda Flaherty, are more than comfortable on their couch in Davie, Florida. They're doing what millions of tweens across America are doing -- they're watching, "Hannah Montana." "We didn't miss, like, any episodes of her, unless something really big was happening," said Cara, 12.

The hit Disney Channel show -- which stars 14-year-old Miley Cyrus and her country singer dad, Billy Ray Cyrus -- is about a teenage girl who's a typical high-schooler by day but has a secret pop-star alter ego by night. If you have a child between 6 and 14, there's a pretty good chance you know Hannah. Nielsen Media research says more than two-thirds of U.S. kids in that age group watched the show in the third quarter of 2007.

So when Disney announced a 54-city concert tour, starting October 18 in St. Louis, Missouri, it was an obvious birthday present for Cara. But the day tickets went on sale, Cara's mom, Maureen Von Minden, found she was shut out before she got started.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/12/montana.tickets/index.html

Greedy....locking out the very ones who make the ratings what they are.

[mark414]

1. all ticket brokers should be thrown out of business

i can get arrested for scalping but these guys often get preferential treatment?

what a joke

[LisaM]

2. Boy, Billy Ray isn't very sensitive to the issue

They should go back to the old way, sell them at a box office. You can distribute the box offices geographically.