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Rebellious NBC Affiliate Reverses Decision on ‘SNL’

Jun 28, 2013  •  Post A Comment

An NBC affiliate that has shown a tendency in the past to make up its own mind about the merits of the network’s programming has reversed course on "Saturday Night Live," one of the shows it has refused to air in the past.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that Salt Lake City station KSL-TV, which is owned by the Mormon Church, will resume showing first-run episodes of "SNL" in the fall, after years of refusing to televise the show.

"The decision is part of the station’s plan to make the lineup stronger and improve its relationship with NBC, said Tami Ostmark, KSL-TV’s vice president of marketing, research and promotion," the story reports. "KSL is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has not aired certain shows over the years due to content it deems inappropriate. But Ostmark says content was never the issue with ‘SNL.’ She says the station didn’t want to bump a popular sports show that aired at the same time."

NBC released a statement noting that it is pleased with the decision and values its partnership with KSL, the report notes.

The show will air at 10:30 p.m. Saturdays starting Sept. 28. KSL has been airing repeats of "SNL" in an earlier time slot, while first-run episodes have aired on the CW affiliate KUCW in Utah.

"The CW affiliate has been airing NBC’s ‘Hannibal’ since May after KSL dropped it due to graphic and gory content," the story reports. "The station has also been showing ‘The New Normal,’ a sitcom about a gay couple who invites a surrogate mother into their home, since the fall of 2012.

"KSL executives said the program was inappropriate to air during family viewing time, saying the show’s dialogue was excessively crude and that scenes were too explicit."

One Comment

  1. The LDS Church loves the lucrative profits from commercial Radio and TV, which appetite has it continuously teetering on the edge of moral hypocrisy for airing programming it doctrinally opposes, but brings in good ratings & revenue.

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