Lessons from Mormon TV denial of Playboy program

[Commentary] KSL-TV, the Mormon-owned NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City, decided not to carry “The Playboy Club,” a slick prime-time drama about the 1960s nightclub run by Playboy Magazine founder Hugh Hefner.

KSL says the decision isn't about the show’s content, which is likely to be no racier than the usual network fare, but is instead about branding. Playboy’s values and KSL’s values are opposed, they say, and they want everybody to know it. KSL’s decision is proof that there is vitality in the longstanding affiliate system, which gives local station owners a say in which programs they decide to broadcast to their communities. Media consolidation has given Americans a world where decisions are increasingly made by conglomerate owners in offices far away from the communities their decisions affect. Some conglomerates are as big as 50 stations, which means that one decision made to benefit the bottom line can end up impacting tens of millions of viewers. More consolidation means that values and local taste are less and less a part of the equation that determines what ends up on TV.