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Congress set to ban movie futures trading
WASHINGTON, (UPI) -- A U.S. congressional conference committee has approved a ban on movie box-office futures trading, a practice many filmmakers say would hurt the movie industry.
The amendment to the financial reform bill, which would ban derivatives trading based on box-office results, was approved Friday morning by a House-Senate conference committee, The Hollywood Reporter said.
Derivatives are contracts that have value based on stocks, bonds, loans, currencies or commodities that are tied to an event such as box-office results.
Critics of the proposal to legalize box-office futures fear speculators or rival studios would use such a futures market to bet against a movie's success.
The conference committee's chairman, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass, said the House conferees agreed with the amendment. It had support from the Motion Picture Association of America, which represents major studios, as well as from Hollywood talent guilds and movie exhibitors.
Congress is expected to pass the conference committee version of the bill.
WASHINGTON, (UPI) -- A U.S. congressional conference committee has approved a ban on movie box-office futures trading, a practice many filmmakers say would hurt the movie industry.
The amendment to the financial reform bill, which would ban derivatives trading based on box-office results, was approved Friday morning by a House-Senate conference committee, The Hollywood Reporter said.
Derivatives are contracts that have value based on stocks, bonds, loans, currencies or commodities that are tied to an event such as box-office results.
Critics of the proposal to legalize box-office futures fear speculators or rival studios would use such a futures market to bet against a movie's success.
The conference committee's chairman, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass, said the House conferees agreed with the amendment. It had support from the Motion Picture Association of America, which represents major studios, as well as from Hollywood talent guilds and movie exhibitors.
Congress is expected to pass the conference committee version of the bill.