SOPRANOS A HIT ON A&E

PREMIERE EPISODE BECOMES THE MOST-WATCHED OFF-NET SERIES PREMIERE IN CABLE HISTORY WITH 4.3 MILLION VIEWERS

A&E SECURES THE #1 CABLE NETWORK SPOT FOR THE NIGHT ACROSS ALL KEY DEMOS

NEW YORK January 11, 2007 Last nights A&E Network premiere of the acclaimed drama The Sopranos has gone down in cable history as the most watched off-network series premiere ever. 4.3 million viewers tuned-in to A&E to see Tony Soprano and his family make their basic-cable debut. The Sopranos led A&E to the #1 spot for the night versus all ad-supported entertainment cable networks in households, total viewers, adults 25-54, 18-49 and 18-34.

We could not be happier with the strong initial performance of The Sopranos on A&E, said Bob DeBitetto, Executive Vice President and General Manager, A&E Network. Offering this genre defining series to a mass audience for the first time has clearly resonated with our viewers. We are confident that it will continue to complement A&Es entire programming portfolio and attract new viewers.

The premiere episode garnered a 3.6 household coverage rating (a 260% jump over A&Es 2006 primetime average), 4.3 million total viewers (291% above the 2006 primetime average), 1.8 million viewers 18-49 (216% above the primetime average) and 1.9 million 25-54 (228% above the 2006 primetime average).

The Sopranos airs every Wednesday at 9pm/ET with back-to-back episodes. The same episodes will also repeat the following Monday at 9pm/ET.

THE SOPRANOS is an HBO Brad Grey Television production in association with HBO Original Programming. The series was created by David Chase. Executive Producers are Brad Grey and David Chase. HBO and The Sopranos are service marks of Home Box Office, Inc.

Now reaching more than 91 million homes, A&E Network offers a diverse mix of high quality entertainment; ranging from the networks signature Real-Life Series franchise, including the hit series Dog the Bounty Hunter, Intervention, Gene Simmons Family Jewels, King of Cars and Criss Angel Mindfreak, to critically acclaimed original movies, dramatic series and the most successful justice shows on cable. A&E is the official basic cable home to the high-profile series 24, CSI: Miami and The Sopranos. The A&E Network website is located at www.aetv.com. The A&E Insider is located at www.aetv.com/insider. For more information and photography please visit us on the web at www.aetvpress.com.

Sopranos was a hit cause it is the best show in the world...it would be a hit on oxygen, or animal planet.

I kinda was wondering how well it was doing. I mean, it's edited, so how well would it do was my thinking. It's like watching THE GODFATHER, with all the cuss words and other stuff edited out, it wouldn't be the same in my book.

I kinda was wondering how well it was doing. I mean, it's edited, so how well would it do was my thinking. It's like watching THE GODFATHER, with all the cuss words and other stuff edited out, it wouldn't be the same in my book.

MAD TV did a hilarious skit a while back where they had an ad that said "And coming soon to the PAX network...The Sopranos!"

They then proceeded to show "clips" from the show - the problem was no character ever spoke a complete sentence because they cut to another scene right before the character was supposed to swear. All it was was a series of jump cuts that made no sense. You have to see it to get the full effect...it's hilarious!

I want to watch an episode on A&E just for laughs. Right off the top, they'll have to take out 10 minutes because most episodes are over 50 minutes long. So these are going to be butchered & neutered. This show has to be seen uncut & unedited. A damn good show...which can't help but come across as half-assed and nonsensical with all the overdubbed profanities & edits.

i've been watching the first few weeks and really don't notice a huge difference in the content, i was worried about the whole censorship thing too but it has been ok so far