U.S. TV presenter DAVID LETTERMAN's pay deal with his talk show's striking writers couldn't save him from a ratings beating at the hands of rival JAY LENO.

Both shows returned to the air on Wednesday night (02Jan08) after two months away while members of the Writer's Guild of America picketed producers for better contracts.

Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, secured a deal with writers ahead of this week's shows, while Leno's writers are still out in the cold. But even without a team of comedians behind him, Leno's NBC show still secured almost two million more viewers than his rival on CBS.

According to early ratings, 7.2 million viewers tuned into The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and 5.5 million watched The Late Show with David Letterman.

Both shows recorded higher figures than before the strike. Leno has consistently beaten Letterman in the ratings for the past 14 years.