NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - NBC is cutting a scene in Thursday's episode of "ER" in which an elderly woman patient's breasts would have been shown to head off having affiliates refuse to air the show, according to published reports.

NBC is cutting a scene showing an elderly female patient's breasts from Thursday's episode due to a threat that affiliates would not air the program.

The network said that given the controversy sparked by Sunday's Super Bowl halftime show on CBS, in which singer Janet Jackson's breast was exposed at the end of her performance, it had no choice.

"In consultation with our affiliate board we have asked 'ER' to remove a shot of an exposed breast of an 80-year-old woman receiving emergency care," NBC said in a statement reported by trade publications Variety and Hollywood Reporter "Though we continue to believe the shot is appropriate and in context, and would have aired after 10:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time, we have unfortunately concluded that the atmosphere created by this week's events has made it too difficult for many of our affiliates to air this shot."

Obscenity rules are different after 10 p.m. than they are earlier in the evening, such as when the halftime show aired. But there is a new focus in Congress and the FCC about cracking down on obscenity on television. Last month the FCC imposed its first fine in its history on a television station for violating obscenity standards.

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Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell denounced the CBS halftime show and announced there would be an investigation and possible fines by the agency. Each station that airs a show judged to be obscene could be liable for a fine of $27,500 for each incident.

Roger Ogden, general manager of NBC affiliate KUSA-TV in Denver and chairman of the NBC affiliate board, told Hollywood Reporter that affiliates had been concerned about the propriety of the scene for several weeks since station executives saw the episode at a convention last month. After Sunday's halftime show controversy, the affiliates board informed NBC earlier this week that, "we thought it wasn't in the best interest of the network or the affiliates to include the shot," Ogden told the publication.

Thursday begins the February "sweeps" period in which ratings are measured and used to set ad rates for the upcoming season. While General Electric Co. (GE: Research, Estimates) unit NBC owns a number of its own affiliates, mostly in large markets like New York and Los Angeles, most of the country still watches shows on stations not owned by the network.

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If a significant number of affiliates had refused to air the show, it would have reduced ratings and possibly ad dollars for the nation's No. 2 television show. Advertisers on Thursday's episode also would have been owed money back or free ad time later if the show's ratings were below promised levels due to affiliate defections.

"ER" executive producer John Wells had objected to the cut, according to reports. He told Hollywood Reporter his objection to editing the breast out of the shot came out of concern about artistic freedom rather than the specifics of that particular scene.

"We could've easily cut the small piece of the breast and it does no damage to the show whatsoever. But the chilling effect of having this one incident now affect programming content across all the networks, that's what I'm concerned about."

An episode of "ER" first aired last October, which was rerun last Thursday, also showed another elderly patient being disrobed, although it was not quite as revealing as the shot cut from the latest episode, and it produced no great outcry.