‘The Sopranos’ pays off for A

With 4.3 million viewers, Wednesday’s premiere of a toned-down “The Sopranos” muscled aside the competition to make A&E; the night’s most-watched among ad-supported basic-cable services.

The much-hyped premiere of the landmark HBO show set a basic-cable record for a premiere and led the evening in households, total viewers and key demographics. It also nearly tripled A&E;’s average prime-time viewership for 2006.