ROPER STUDY GAUGES VIEWS OF TV WATCHERS

A Roper study released last week, "America's Watching: Public Attitudes Towards Television," showed an increase in the number of television viewers and the credibility of the medium during the Gulf war. General observations included these:

* Ninety-eight percent of Americans watch television at least once a week, while slightly more than 60 percent receive cable.

* In 1990, for the third time in history, more Americans said they became best acquainted with local candidates from television (43 percent) than from newspapers (40 percent).

* In children's programming, 45 percent found there were not enough suitable programs for children to watch; 33 percent thought there was about the right amount and 10 percent that there were more than enough suitable programs.

* When people are given a list of words describing television, their three top choices were: "entertaining," 59 percent; "informative," 52 percent, and "interesting," 50 percent.

* In the competition between broadcast and cable television, the study found that two out of three cable subscribers would consider canceling their cable subscription if cable did not also give them access to the three major networks.

The study was conducted between December 1990 and February 1991 for the Network Television Association and the National Association of Broadcasters. Two thousand adults were interviewed.