Regulators postpone to June 14 decision on contracts for new box-office futures exchange

CFTC delays decision on movie futures

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators have postponed for one week a decision on whether to allow a new online exchange to proceed to trade future box office receipts for movies.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission extended to June 14 Monday’s deadline for deciding on the proposed futures contracts for the new Trend Exchange. The delay was requested by the exchange, an agency spokesman said.

The big Hollywood studios strongly oppose futures trading of box-office receipts. They say rival studios could sabotage films by betting against them. Investor groups that put up the money to make films say it would help generate new capital for the movie industry.

The CFTC approved the establishment of the Trend Exchange and another exchange for futures, the Cantor Futures Exchange.