• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, June 13, 2011

The NBC station in Salt Lake City, owned by an arm of the Mormon church, has declined to air NBC's fall drama "The Playboy Club," saying a notable portion of its audience may find the content "objectionable" and it is not in line with its brand. 

NBC and KSL indicated they will look for another outlet in the Salt Lake City market -- the country's 32nd-largest -- to air the show.

KSL does not carry NBC's "Saturday Night Live" -- which airs on the CW affiliate, part of Newport Television, which counts Providence Equity Partners as an owner.

NBC would not comment on its policy for network affiliates and their ability to decline to air programming.

"The Playboy Club" is billed as a chance to "step inside the seductive world of the bunny" and is set at Chicago's Playboy Club in the early 1960s, when "social mores" were being challenged.

KSL CEO Mark Willes stated: "The Playboy brand is known internationally. Everyone is clear what it stands for. We want to be sure everyone is clear what the KSL brand stands for, which is completely inconsistent with the Playboy brand."

KSL and its parent company back an "Out in the Light Campaign" that "seeks to educate people on problems associated with viewing sexually explicit material."

"Our intent is not to tell people what they can and cannot watch, but rather to share programming with our audience in accordance with our mission," stated KSL Programming Director Michelle Torsak.

Salt Lake Tribune columnist Scott D. Pierce wrote that KSL's decision "screams hypocrisy," writing that he has seen the show's pilot -- and it's largely a crime drama, "not lascivious or lewd."

"I can say without hesitation that every episode of "Law & Order: SVU" is more 'adult' than the pilot of "The Playboy Club," he wrote. "And KSL has aired almost 300 episodes of that show. While not visually graphic, "Will & Grace" never met a dirty joke it didn't like. And KSL aired nearly 200 episodes of that show."