"THE CBS EVENING NEWS WITH KATIE COURIC" PRIMETIME SPECIAL SAMPLED BY 6.45 MILLION VIEWERS

First of Its Kind Program Is Time Period's Second Most Watched Program, Behind Only "American Idol"

A special primetime edition of "THE CBS EVENING NEWS WITH KATIE COURIC" placed second in its time period Wednesday night, averaging 6.45 million viewers, behind only "American Idol." The special broadcast out-delivered competition on NBC ("Knight Rider," 5.85m) and ABC ("Lost Encore," 5.37m) in viewers and households.

"We were able to achieve our objective of exposing 'The CBS Evening News' to an incremental audience, and hopefully attract more viewers to our 6:30 broadcast," said Sean McManus, President of CBS News and CBS Sports. "We are pleased that viewers are responding to the quality of the newscasts that Katie and the team are producing in each and every night."

In a night otherwise dominated by repeats CBS was second overall in households (5.6/09) and viewers (8.61m).