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Name: KSL-TV 5
Age: 61
Occupation: NBC TV station
Last Seen: Salt Lake City, UT
Bee-otched For: shooting down the rabbit
Age: 61
Occupation: NBC TV station
Last Seen: Salt Lake City, UT
Bee-otched For: shooting down the rabbit
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This has not been a good week for Hugh Hefner.
Yesterday, it was announced that his wedding to Crystal Harris - who is 50 years his junior - was called off. The day before, it was announced that at least one NBC affiliate told their viewers that they were NOT going to air the new series The Playboy Club, based on his legendary chain of lounges where women dressed as bunnies, serving food and drinks to upper class men, aka keyholders.
Yep, that station's none other than KSL-TV in Salt Lake City.
The station's management released a statement, stating that the show would be inconsistent with its mission and programming. Evermore, KSL is a sponsor of "Out in the Light", an organization created by its owner that teaches people about the dangers of pornography. Funny, since Playboy isn't even really pornography. Hell, in 1963 - when the show takes place - the magazine didn't even show a woman's pubic region because Hef wanted his girls to be "the girls next door". Of course, the great Pubic Wars of the late 1960's with rival Penthouse changed all that.
KSL, by the way, is owned by Deseret Media Companies/Bonneville International, which in turn is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. As far as we at Chuck69.com know, KSL is the sole network TV station in America owned by a religious institution.
(It's worth noting that South Bend's WNDU-TV, also an NBC affiliate, was owned by Catholic Notre Dame University from its 1955 sign-on until 2006 when they sold the station to Grey Television for $85 million. It's also worth noting that even they canned a few shows, such as the short-lived God, the Devil and Bob and the American version of the British hit Coupling.)
(It's also worth mentioning that indirectly, KSL is also the only network TV station in America to be co-owned with a PBS station since the LDS Church also owns KBYU in Provo through Brigham Young University.)
KSL has always been owned by the LDS Church, but spent most of its life until 1995 as a CBS affiliate. Even as a carrier of the CBS Eye, the station had its problems; they once yanked a Northern Exposure episode off the air because it dealt with homosexuality (weird, since the station now airs The Nate Berkus Show). However, CBS ended up purchasing long-time NBC rival KUTV as part of a group deal. NBC knew that those pesky Mormons would cherry pick at their lineup, and wanted KTVX. But, that station ended up staying with ABC. So, KSL went with NBC. The good news: KSL has the biggest signal of any network TV station in America.
You guessed it: the bad news is that KSL does cherry pick.
As a matter of fact, KSL is the sole NBC affiliate that doesn't air Saturday Night Live. They claim it's not because of the show's sometimes-racy content, but it's due to the fact that the station airs a sports show Saturday night that does quite well in the ratings and revenue department. They - like WNDU - canned Coupling due to content. Because of KSL's censoring, NBC has to have a secondary affiliate in the market: primary CW affiliate KUCW (which is a sister to KTVX). It is expected that KUCW will pick up The Playboy Club.
Many folks call KSL's decision to bar TPC from the station a dumb and hypocritical one. Scott D. Pierce, media critic for the Salt Lake Tribune (a rival to the LDS Church'sDeseret News) claims that they've aired 300 episodes of Law and Order:SVU, and claims that show is more "adult" than TPC, and the fact that they've aired 200 episodes ofWill and Grace, which "never met a dirty joke it didn't like".
Ya know, I have to ask, WHY IN THE HELL WOULD A CHURCH OWN A SECULAR TV STATION IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?! Oh yeah! $$$$$$$. KSL makes money, and lots of it for LDS. KSL has been a network TV station owned by the church since day one. Going independent would be a great choice for the station, but after what happened to KRON in San Francisco, it just might be suicide. Or, how about going religious?
The point is, KSL and the LDS Church need to stop being the big bully to the people of Salt Lake. Hell, less than HALF of all people in the city are Mormon anymore! People are getting smart! IT'S A CULT! It's all about the Benjamins, baby!
Thanks, but I'm a member of my own church: St. Mattress of the Holy Springs. Playboy bunnies are more than welcome to join.
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