6.45M watched Couric primetime special

NEW YORK, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- This week's "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" primetime special was sampled by about 6.45 million viewers, CBS said Friday.

The network said its news special placed second in its time period Wednesday night, behind only "American Idol."

"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," Sean McManus, president of CBS News and CBS Sports, said in a statement. "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."