Wanting to skip a possible government fine, WDBJ (Channel 7) will delay the Sunday airing of the documentary "9/11." The film, which was shot by two French brothers on Sept. 11, 2001, will not be shown during prime hours (8 to 11 p.m.) but instead will air at 11:35 p.m.

"I had a dozen or so very explicit comments from people in our viewing area," said Bob Lee, WDBJ's president and general manager. " 'If you run this during prime time, I will ask the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] to impose the maximum fine.' And I believe that they would."

WDBJ's decision to push back the film, which contains explicit language, to a later time slot comes as FCC fines have increased, ranging from $32,000 to $325,000 per incident.

In the documentary's place, WDBJ, a CBS affiliate, will air a taped statement from Lee before showing the thriller "Antitrust," which stars Ryan Phillippe and Tim Robbins. Meanwhile, other CBS affiliates will re-air "9/11" during prime time.

In the Roanoke-Lynchburg market, the documentary would have gone up against ABC's controversial two-parter, "The Path to 9/11," which centers on the 9/11 Commission Report and covers the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center through the Sept. 11 attacks.

The ABC miniseries, which stars Harvey Keitel and Donnie Wahlberg, will air at 8 p.m. Sunday on WSET (Channel 13) amid reports ABC has done a last-minute re-edit. "The Path to 9/11," which has received criticism from former President Bill Clinton and others, will air mostly commercial free. Democrats have tried to get ABC to yank the miniseries.

The American Family Association, a Christian values group based in Mississippi, pushed hard for CBS affiliates to skip airing the documentary "9/11" or to do so at a later time. WDBJ acknowledged, on its Web site and on the air, having received more than 150 e-mails from viewers. However, the station didn't receive complaints when it aired the documentary two previous times.

Still, Lee said the station wasn't willing to risk a potential showdown with the FCC this time.

"We ran this program twice," he said on camera. "It ran six months after the anniversary of 9/11 and then it ran on the first anniversary of 9/11. We got absolutely no complaints whatsoever."

In a phone interview on Friday, Lee said if WDBJ aired the film and got hit with an FCC fine, it would be devastating.

"We're just a small business," he said. Getting a fine "would severely limit our ability to make the payroll, keep the power on and provide the local news and community programming ... that have been a hallmark of this station for years."

According to a description of "9/11," Robert De Niro hosts the documentary that contains footage of New York firefighters' rescue efforts at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Jules and Gedeon Naudet's film shows interviews with firefighters and others. The brothers were shooting footage of a firefighter squad when the first plane struck the World Trade Center.

WDBJ is owned by Schurz Communications of South Bend, Ind. Its sister station, WSBT TV in South Bend, will air "9/11" at midnight Sunday.

Bob Johnson, WSBT's program manager, said, "We feel that the law is vague, and we don't feel like being in the middle of this showdown between the network and the FCC."