HBO to Sell 78 ‘Sopranos’ Episodes to A&E;

Mobster Tony Soprano is headed to basic cable, minus a @#$%! or two.

After a protracted bidding war, Time Warner Inc.’s HBO network agreed to sell 78 episodes of “The Sopranos” to basic cable’s A&E; Network, A&E; said Monday. The episodes fetched more than $2.5 million apiece, people familiar with the situation said, the most ever for a syndicated TV show.

The deal will bring “The Sopranos” -- a critics’ favorite since its debut in 1999 -- to a much broader audience. While fewer than one-third of the 100 million U.S. homes with television sets subscribe to HBO, A&E; is widely distributed, with about 88 million subscribers.

But whereas HBO, which doesn’t run ads, is almost entirely free from restrictions on its content, ad-supported A&E; isn’t. It will almost certainly have to edit out some of the violence, nudity and rough language that characterizes the Emmy-winning drama series that chronicles the family life and angst of a New Jersey mobster played by James Gandolfini.

Executives close to the deal said details of the editing were being worked out and that it was unclear whether “The Sopranos” creator David Chase would be involved. Chase declined a request for comment through his agent. HBO executives also declined to comment.

“We’ll work very closely with HBO ... to have this show meet our broadcast standards,” Abbe Raven, executive vice president and general manager of A&E;, said in an interview. “The integrity and nature of this show will not change.”

The reruns will begin in the fall of 2006.

Time Warner’s TNT also bid on “The Sopranos” and had been considered an early favorite because of its corporate ties to HBO. But A&E; -- owned by a consortium that includes Hearst Corp., Walt Disney Co.’s ABC and General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal -- was strongly motivated to make the deal after watching TNT snatch the syndicated rights to NBC’s hit drama “Law & Order,” said cable analyst Jack Myers.

The channel “never fully recovered from ‘Law & Order’ going to TNT,” Myers said.

A&E; was willing to dig deep into its pocketbook because executives believed “The Sopranos” would help the network connect with younger audiences and promote series such as “Growing Up Gotti.” A&E;’s median viewer age is 49.

“We feel very strongly and confidently that this show will deliver an audience,” Raven said.

For HBO, the deal represents a windfall of $200 million. The network has produced enormous profit over the years. But its subscription growth has stalled as new series such as the western “Deadwood” and the Depression-era “Carnivale” have failed to deliver the huge ratings enjoyed by “Sopranos” and the comedy “Sex and the City.”

HBO will begin production on the sixth and presumably final season of “The Sopranos.” That is expected to add 13 episodes to the 65 already produced.