Master of its Domain

Expect more of the same. As cable, the Internet, and videos continue to slash network viewership (NBC has risen to No. 1 by holding on to the same audience it had three years ago), the once-gentlemanly TV biz is resorting to bare-knuckle tactics. ''Pepsi makes fun of Coke,'' says BBDO's Grubbs. ''Visa says, 'And they don't take American Express.' So what's to exempt NBC from poking fun at ABC?'' Agrees Bibb: ''It's a different ball game now. The networks are no longer above it all....They say, 'Why should we be genteel? Let's just go for the jugular.'''

But it's NBC's No. 1 team that makes the deepest cuts and inspires the most griping. Are people just jealous? Well, says Harbert, NBC ''has comported itself in a way that would give people a reason to say, 'Let's go get those guys.'''

Littlefield denies that the Peacock is preening. ''I think that's a bad call,'' he says. ''We don't assume we're No. 1. We keep the mentality that we're No. 3.'' Besides, he adds, ''there's no such thing as overpromotion.''