• Media Life, Thursday, February 15, 2007 12:30 PM

When A&E forked over $2.55 million per episode for the off-network rights to "The Sopranos," it was widely perceived as a huge risk for a channel known as the home of "Biography" and "Columbo" reruns.

That was two years ago, and back then an edgy drama like " Sopranos" just didn't seem to fit its identity. However, A&E has since been remaking itself as a place for hard-boiled reality shows and drama reruns so when "Sopranos" finally arrived, it seemed a good fit. And the ratings agree.

While it fell by half after a big opening week, it still helped bring A&E big gains over last year. In January, A&E's prime-time average jumped 67%, from 1.01 million to 1.676 million, moving it into the top five basic cable networks. Among adults 18-49, it averaged 806,000 viewers, up 54%, while it garnered gains of 55% and 57% in 25-54s and 18-34s to show the best growth of any top 20 network in all of those groups.

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