Fewer ads on ABC newscasts

A few months after rival NBC did it once, ABC News says it will air four editions of “World News” with a single sponsor next month, freeing up five extra minutes for news on each broadcast.

ABC has sent reporter Bill Weir traveling for a special series on those days. He’ll go to Kiribati, a Pacific island nation that is seeing the effects of global warming, and to Zambia, to report on efforts to reduce infant and maternal mortality.

NBC’s “Nightly News” aired a broadcast on Dec. 4 solely sponsored by Philips Electronics, with the fewer commercial breaks adding six minutes of news. ABC’s single-sponsored newscasts will air on Monday nights, April 2, 9, 16 and 23. The CVS Pharmacy is sponsoring the last one; ABC and the advertising agency said the sponsor for the other three broadcasts wanted to remain confidential until the broadcasts.