FCC repeats: ‘Ryan’ OK for broadcast TV

ABC’s broadcast last Veterans Day of the graphic, Oscar-winning war movie “Saving Private Ryan” did not violate indecency guidelines, federal regulators have ruled.

The film contained “numerous expletives and other potentially offensive language generally as part of the soldiers’ dialogue,” the Federal Communications Commission said Monday.

“In light of the overall context in which this material is presented, the commission determined it was not indecent or profane,” the five-member FCC said in a unanimous decision in denying complaints over the movie.

Some complaints also cited the violence in the film, which opens with a bloody depiction of the D-Day invasion, but the FCC said its indecency and profanity guidelines were not applicable to violent programming.

Sixty-six ABC affiliates, covering nearly one-third of the country, ultimately decided not to air the Steven Spielberg movie on Nov. 11 due to skittishness over whether the film would be deemed indecent – even though the FCC in 2002 had already ruled it was not.

ABC broadcast the film uncut in 2001 and 2002.