David Chase, who created "The Sopranos" television series, said the mobster drama on Time Warner Inc.'s HBO cable channel may end after its sixth season, which is in production and set to air next spring.

"We probably shouldn't do a seventh," Chase said at a breakfast organized by Syracuse University's Newhouse School in New York. Chase, 59, said he has known for years how he wanted to end the story and had "a great time" working on the final episodes.

"The Sopranos," starring James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano and Edie Falco as his wife, Carmela, since 1999 has lured viewers willing to pay to see the show to HBO. HBO, which isn't restricted by broadcast rules against indecency and doesn't air commercials, has also drawn subscribers with programs such as "Sex and the City" and "Six Feet Under."

The sixth season of "The Sopranos" "is going to be about money, materialism, buying stuff, consumerism," Chase said. "The U.S. is a great country, but everything is up for sale." The comments were not Chase's first on ending the series. In July 2002, he said the fifth season would be the last. Asked today whether a seventh season is possible with the sixth written, he said he wouldn't have to change "anything major."

Chase's comments indicate he hasn't ruled out the possibility of a seventh season, said Shari Anne Brill, director of programming at media buying agency Carat USA in New York.

--Reruns of Season 4 begin June 5, on HBO. I can't wait until the new season starts.

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