An individual's indecency complaints to the FCC stem from broadcasts that aired on KUEN Channel 9 on Feb. 20 and 27, 2006, as part of a college telecourse on American cinema. Included in the broadcasts were clips from the films "Platoon" and "The Graduate" that were used to demonstrate the art of combat filmmaking and the evolution of women in romantic comedies.
The "Platoon" clip included two four-letter obscenities and "The Graduate" clip included "milliseconds" of frontal nudity followed by a montage of "several quick cuts" of nude women, according to a letter UEN filed in response to the FCC complaint.
UEN aired edited versions of the clips on its analog channel, which can be picked up by any television. Administrators believed the version being broadcast on the digital station, which can only be picked up by digital televisions and is available in only 788 Utah households, also was edited.
"No one knew there were two versions of the show," said Laura Hunter, UEN instructional services director.
UEN received the program from Annenberg Media, a company that provides educational television programming, which also didn't know two versions existed, according to a letter Annenberg Media sent to the FCC.
UEN pulled the program after receiving the complaint, Hunter said.
UEN's lawyers are fighting the complaint, saying the programming is intended for the education of adults and "no effort is made to make the program attractive to children."
The letter also states the content does "not pander to, titillate or shock the audience," but rather is intended as an academic analysis of "important cultural issues."
The letter was sent Jan. 29, and the UEN does not expect to hear back from the FCC for several weeks.
The FCC did not immediately return phone calls Tuesday.
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* SHEENA MCFARLAND can be contacted at smcfarland@sltrib.com or 801-257-8619.


