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CBS had initially scheduled the ''Number Ones'' special, meant to promote the singer's new greatest-hits album of that title, during November sweeps but yanked it when Santa Barbara authorities said they were bringing charges against Jackson. Over the weekend, CBS spokesman Chris Ender said the network had rescheduled ''Number Ones'' for Jan. 2 once Jackson had agreed to discuss the charges against him on ''60 Minutes.'' On Tuesday, however, Ender told the Times, ''This was not a package deal. We licensed a special, nothing else. The only time these two projects were linked was in the wake of the charges, when we informed Mr. Jackson's people we couldn't broadcast the special if he didn't address the charges on a CBS news program.''

Despite Jackson's flagging record sales, he's made a good living this year packaging TV interviews, documentaries, and other shows about himself. In addition to the at least $5 million CBS promised him for ''Number Ones,'' the Times reports that he earned another $5 million apiece for the two Fox documentaries that aired this spring. (No word on what he earned from foreign broadcast rights, or from Martin Bashir's ''Living With Michael Jackson'' documentary, which started the networks' mania for all things Jacko.) Ian Drew, a reporter who interviewed Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe for one of the Fox shows, told the Times that the singer's business managers, Ronald Konitzer and Dieter Wiesner, were behind the strategy. ''Ronald and Dieter realized they should not give interviews; they should do them as specials,'' Drew said. ''It's a big money-making venture.''

According to Nielsen figures, 18.8 million people watched the interview, making ''60 Minutes'' the most-watched show during the sleepy holiday week and giving CBS the edge in the weekly ratings race with an average viewership of 9.7 million. ABC averaged 8.1 million, for a No. 2 finish for the week (and a rare victory among the coveted 18-49 demographic), thanks to the final ''Monday Night Football'' game of the season, the week's No. 3 show. NBC was third for the week, averaging 7.3 million, followed by Fox (6 million), the WB (2.7 million) and UPN (2.6 million).