By Greg Burns | Faced with objections from heavy-hitters in the motion-picture industry,
the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday approved
contract-market designation for Media Derivatives, Inc., a startup
exchange seeking to trade movie box-office receipts.

But it stopped short of giving an O.K. for the trading of the
organization’s planned futures and options on the movie biz.

The Commission said it is still “considering” the proposal for box-office contracts, and asked the new exchange to hold off self-certifying new trading products. The Washington, D.C.-based regulator stressed in a statement that it “has not approved the trading of any futures or options related to box office receipts at this time.”

California Democratic senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein were among lawmakers who expressed concerns about allowing speculators to bet on movies, as did the Motion Picture Association of America.

A spokesman for Media Derivatives Inc., one of two trading ventures seeking approval, has said the purpose of the new markets is “risk transfer and price discovery,” not gambling.