Fans frustrated by sky-high ticket prices will be happy to know that the CBC wants to broadcast the Tragically Hip’s final show — but the deal isn’t done yet.

“We are interested in airing the Tragically Hip’s final show and are having conversations with the band to see if we can make it happen,” said CBC communications adviser Emma Bédard.

Ontario’s attorney general said Tuesday she’s prepared to try to find out why so many Tragically Hip fans couldn’t buy tickets for the group’s summer concerts — unless they wanted to pay many times face value on resale sites.

Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur, sympathetic with fans who would have to pay such tremendous prices to see the band, said the ministry needs to look at resale prices and insists she wants to fix the situation.

A number of fans outraged by the scarcity of tickets to the hotly anticipated concert series — announced at the same time the band said lead singer Gordon Downie had incurable brain cancer — urged the public broadcaster to help make the band’s farewell tour part of the public domain.

“The Hip have had a defining influence on our country, and, for so many of us, are core to our identity as Canadians,” Grant Bishop wrote in an open letter to the CBC on his Facebook page.

“What would be awesome is if you could live video broadcast this concert. In particular, it would be great if you would provide a video feed for fans to gather to watch the Hip’s final show in public venues across this country — and wherever Canadians are in the world.”

A similar suggestion was made on the online petition site Change.org, which garnered more than 500 signatures by 4 p.m. Tuesday.

“CBC can step in and make a tremendously effective contribution to Gord’s vision with all of our help,” argued the petition’s creator, Kelly McAlpine, from Orillia.

It wouldn’t be the first time the public broadcaster had aired a Canadian artist’s concert after complaints about inflated ticket prices.

In April 2009, the CBC aired Leonard Cohen: Live in London, a one-hour TV special amid fan complaints that online ticket resellers had jacked up prices to his Canadian tour. The broadcaster also gave fans a sneak peak at Cohen’s latest album.

Minutes after first being offered for sale on Monday, tickets to the Hip’s farewell tour were sold out and showing up on reseller websites for hundreds of dollars more than their face value. On StubHub, tickets for a show at the Air Canada Centre ranged from $142 to $1,310 each, compared with their original price range of $56 to $166.

The speculation, allegedly caused by scalpers, angered fans who are still mourning the news of Downie’s cancer. The tour is meant to be one of his last chances to perform for fans.

“Ticket scalpers across Canada are licking their chops in anticipation of cashing in on brain cancer,” Gary Smith wrote on Twitter.

A representative for StubHub did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but a statement was posted online after Hip fans complained about the quick sell-out.

“Over the years, StubHub has donated nearly $2 million in support of charitable benefit events like this one and in support of the artists and the charitable intent of this event, we are pleased to make a donation to the Sunnybrook Foundation as well,” StubHub said in the statement.

“As a free and open marketplace, StubHub is committed to ensuring fans have access to buy and sell tickets to the events they want to see.”

Bishop’s open letter and the Change.org petition were shared widely on social media. Other fans suggested the band could air a pay-per-view concert and donate the profits to cancer research.

The band is already allowing fans to donate to the Gord Downie Fund for Brain Cancer Research when they purchase their tickets; the money will benefit the Sunnybrook Foundation.

The Tragically Hip made an effort to meet some of the intense demand by adding another four dates to their summer tour on Monday, in cities where they already have scheduled concerts.

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Tickets for all shows are on sale to the public on Friday through Ticketmaster and its partners.

The 15-date tour supporting their upcoming album, Man Machine Poem, begins at Victoria’s Save on Foods Memorial Centre on July 22 and concludes in the Hip’s hometown of Kingston at the Rogers K-Rock Centre on Aug. 20.

—with files from The Canadian Press and Toronto Star staff