ATLANTA -- Channel 2, WSB-TV announced that it would not air ABC's prime time movie presentation, "Saving Private Ryan" on Thursday, November 11, 2004 because of ambiguity over the FCC's view of graphic language.

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WSB-TV's Vice President and General Manager, Greg Stone, said, "This is not about whether the movie is worth airing in prime time. It is extremely worthwhile programming. However, the FCC's recent decision in the Bono case reversed years of prior policy that the context of language matters. At this point, the local broadcast community cannot get any contemporaneous clarification from the FCC that this movie is not in violation of the Commission's newly articulated standard."

Stone continued, "We asked ABC for permission to run the movie after 10 p.m. to remove it from the so-called family viewing time period and ABC would not allow that, nor would it give permission for us to edit out the graphic language."

Stone continued, "With no options available regarding the preparation of the movie or altering the start time, we decided to pre-empt the network on this night."

WSB-TV will program encore performances of recent and highly viewed local programs starting at 8 p.m. with John Pruitt's special, "Jimmy Carter: Beyond the Presidency."

From 9-10 p.m., one hour of back-to-back episodes of Monica Kaufman's "Closeups" starts with an engaging look at Georgia's own Ray Charles and the just-released movie, "Ray," starring Jamie Fox followed at 9:30 p.m. by another "Closeups" of Monica's "20 Most Outrageous Moments."

At 10 p.m., Clark Howard returns to prime time to show Georgian's how to save their money in "Gotta Have Clark."

Channel 2 Action News Nightbeat at 11 p.m., which would have been delayed by the movie, will now air at its' normal time.

Channel 2, WSB-TV, is a Cox Television Station and ABC Affiliate.

About Cox Television: Cox Television includes 15 television stations, 3 national television sales representation firms, a television production company, and a Washington D.C. news office. Cox Television is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, Inc., based in Atlanta.

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