MEDIA

Network Ad Dollars Drop: The three major TV networks sold $676 million less in advertising in 1991 than the year before, according to Arbitron. For the year, ABC, CBS and NBC sold a combined $9.46 billion in ads, down almost 7%. Most of the loss was in prime time, down about $620 million to $5.43 billion. NBC still had the biggest share of advertising, with 35.3%, followed by ABC with 33.8% and CBS with 30.9%. Last year’s top-seven network advertisers all spent less than they had in 1990. AT&T; and McDonald’s shifted a significant portion of their advertising to cable. Total advertising on the six cable networks tracked by Arbitron--CNN, ESPN, Family Channel, MTV, TBS and USA--was up $102 million, or 9%, to $1.21 billion.