Financial overhaul provision aims to protect Hollywood studios

The MPAA hailed the progress
of the bill on Thursday, with the association’s president, Bob Pisano, issuing
a “thank you” to Congress. 

“Congress has acted
decisively to ban proposed trading in box office futures and to make important
reforms in the country’s financial regulatory system.  We applaud the work
the bill’s authors have done, and of course, the many senators and members who
supported the provisions to prevent movie futures trading,” he said in a
statement. 

The issue heated up this year
after two companies, Cantor Futures Exchange and Media Derivatives, applied to
be designated as contract markets by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
(CFTC). The designation is a regulatory hurdle the companies needed to bridge
before they could begin to operate.

When the CFTC approved the exchanges, the movie industry looked
to Congress for a ban.