The Yap Gap

TV station breaks now last 30 seconds, not long as man reckons life. But into this eyeball-probing half-minute, commercials are stuffed with a vigor that would astonish even a sausage maker. The networks give this half-minute to local stations to keep them happy and affiliated, and the stations often slice it up into 10-and 20-second blocks, and sometimes--although they are not supposed to do this--they sell it in three 10-second blocks. Sometimes the local stations will snip an additional 10 seconds off network time without permission, and sell that too. Thus it is possible, though not advisable, to see five or six commercials in a row every half hour--one network, the locals, one network.

Last week it seemed likely that all this would change, although naturally not for the better. Next fall, to endear itself to its affiliated stations, ABC will widen its yap gap on night-time programs to 40 seconds. CBS and NBC, of course, will meet the competition.

This change of policy has produced the fascinating spectacle of ad agencies complaining about too much advertising. The big agencies control most network programing, and the news that their advertisers' program time will be diminished by 10 seconds, with no reduction in price, gives them fits. "It is our contention that such a move is arbitrary, uncalled for, and a disservice to the American public,"' Young & Rubicam President George Gribbin complained patriotically in a telegram to ABC Head Oliver Treyz. Treyz wired back that the change was, too, in the public interest, because it strengthened the economy of the local station. It will also strengthen ABC's economy through the five stations it owns.

By week's end, other agency chiefs had joined Gribbin's protest, but their complaints were futile; Treyz announced that he had $200 million worth of contracts signed with 40-second breaks.

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