3.2m tune in for Paris Hilton interview

3.2m viewers in the US tuned in to watch CNN's Larry King interview Paris Hilton after her release from jail, according to figures provided by Nielsen Media Research.

That number of viewers represented Larry King Live's best numbers since nearly 5m tuned in on September 21, 2005, when CNN was covering breaking news items including the emergency landing of a JetBlue aircraft and the effects of Hurricane Rita.

However, the interview - which King called the "second biggest get" he could have hoped for after Osama Bin Laden - failed to score numbers anywhere close to those achieved by Larry King Live in its heyday. On November 9, 1993, 16.3m Americans tuned in to watch Al Gore and Ross Perot debate the North American Free Trade Agreement on the show. However, Paris Hilton did enable CNN to score a rare win over Fox News during primetime.