The Sopranos ran on a satellite network.
A&E ( previously Arts & Entertainment Network ) is an American cable and satellite television channel that serves as the flagship television property of A&E Networks , a joint venture between the Hearst Corporation and Disney -- ABC Television Group subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company ( both of which maintain a 50 % ownership interest ) . Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to paying subscribers via radio frequency ( RF ) signals transmitted through coaxial cables , or in more recent systems , light pulses through fiber-optic cables . The Sopranos . After the pilot was ordered in 1997 , the show premiered on the premium cable network HBO in the United States on January 10 , 1999 , and ran its six seasons with 86 episodes to June 10 , 2007 . The series then went through syndication and has been broadcast on A&E in the United States and internationally .