CNN said an average of 1 million households watched the hearings each day from Tuesday, December 8, to Friday, December 11, giving the network a 1.4 rating average, compared to a 0.8 share or 579,000 households the previous year.

The Saturday Judiciary Committee hearing scored a 1.7 rating with 1.3 million households.

CNN said that its "Investigating the President" series, which aired at 10 P.M. Tuesday through Friday last week, averaged a 1.1 daily rating or 829,000 households, more than double the network's rating for the same time period last year.

President Clinton, who was the target of the Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearings and who now faces a vote by the full House of Representatives on four articles of impeachment, gave CNN an additional boost last Friday when his addressfrom the White House Rose Garden was viewed by 1.7 million households for a 2.2 rating, the network said.

CNN said the audience for its "Larry King Live" programmes, which featured Washington insiders commenting on the president's troubles, drew an average of 1.4 million households each night for a 1.9 rating, a 46-per cent increase over a year earlier.

CNN is a subsidiary of Turner Broadcasting System Inc., which is owned by Time Warner.