Showtime chief’s departure signals Paramount is moving forward on its plan to merge streaming services
Paramount Global executive David Nevins, who joined Showtime in 2010 and has run the premium network since 2016, is leaving the company at the end of the year.

Along with his departure, Paramount Global is restructuring Showtime in ways that could give the company flexibility to effectively end Showtime as it's existed for decades — as an independent premium cable network churning out prestige hits such as "Dexter," "Weeds," "Billions," "Homeland" and "Yellowjackets."

Paramount Global announced Thursday that it's moving Showtime's network business under the leadership of Chris McCarthy, who runs other linear cable networks such as MTV and Comedy Central, and the streaming service under Tom Ryan, who runs Paramount Streaming.

The moves come as the company is considering the idea of merging Showtime into Paramount+ and using the network's hit programming to fuel Paramount+ subscriptions, according to people familiar with the matter. The company's goal is to have Paramount+ be one of the five largest global streaming services, along with Warner Bros. Discovery 's HBO Max, Amazon 's Prime Video, Netflix and Disney +, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.

No decisions about Showtime's future have been made, and no changes are imminent, the people said.

"We are always exploring options to maximize the value of our content investment by giving consumers access to great Paramount content — including the iconic, groundbreaking and premium content offerings of Showtime -- across an array of services and platforms," a Paramount Global spokesperson said.

"This change has also given us the opportunity to more closely align our studios, networks and streaming operations as we execute on our vision and strategy for the future," Chief Executive Officer Bob Bakish said in the statement.