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Exclusive: The Playboy Club Lands New Home in Salt Lake City

NBC has found a new home for The Playboy Club in Salt Lake City. KMYU, the Utah capital's My Network TV affiliate, has agreed to pick up the drama and air it in its regular Monday nighttime slot this fall. KMYU grabbed the keys to The Playboy Club after Salt Lake City's NBC affiliate, KSL, told the network that it refused to air the show. "We respect the position of KSL and are pleased that KMYU can provide a home for...

Michael Schneider

NBC has found a new home for The Playboy Club in Salt Lake City. KMYU, the Utah capital's My Network TV affiliate, has agreed to pick up the drama and air it in its regular Monday nighttime slot this fall.

KMYU grabbed the keys to The Playboy Club after Salt Lake City's NBC affiliate, KSL, told the network that it refused to air the show. "We respect the position of KSL and are pleased that KMYU can provide a home for The Playboy Club," says KMYU vice president and general manager Steve Carlston. "This highly anticipated crime drama will now have the opportunity to be seen by the viewers throughout (the Salt Lake City market)."

KSL is owned by Bonneville, which is operated by the Church of Latter-day Saints. And the station's brass wasn't comfortable with airing a show that included "Playboy" in the title.

"The Playboy brand is known internationally," KSL President and CEO Mark Willes said in a statement earlier this month. "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."

NBC Affiliate in Utah Refuses to Air The Playboy Club

KSL also doesn't run Saturday Night Live because of similar content concerns; that sketch series instead airs on Salt Lake City's CW affiliate. KSL had earlier promised to help NBC find a new home for the show in Salt Lake City.

"While we are disappointed with KSL's decision, we are confident that the show will find another home in the Salt Lake City market," NBC said at the time. No other NBC affiliate has announced plans to pre-empt the show.

As part of the deal with KYMU, The Playboy Club will air Mondays at 9 p.m. MT — when the show would have aired anyway on KSL. NBC declined comment on the news.

KMYU is a digital subchannel of Salt Lake City's CBS affiliate, KUTV, and has been a My Network TV affiliate (branded as "My Utah TV") since last September. Nexstar Broadcasting, which is based in Irving, Texas, owns the station.

Set in the 1960s, The Playboy Club stars Eddie Cibrian as a man running for district attorney in Chicago, but having once worked for the mob. He frequents the local Playboy Club, where his life soon intersects with new a new bunny (Amber Heard). Despite the "Playboy" title, the show focuses more on crime drama stories than on the "Playboy lifestyle."

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