Showtime chief’s departure signals Paramount is moving forward on its plan to merge streaming services

David Nevins has run the premium network for the last two years and is leaving 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 has existed for decades.

Chris McCarthy, who runs other linear cable networks such as MTV and Comedy Central, and Tom Ryan, who runs Paramount Streaming, are the new leaders of the network business.

According to people familiar with the matter, the company is considering merging Showtime into Paramount+ and using the network's hit programming to fuel the subscription service. The company wants to have Paramount+ be one of the five largest global streaming services.

There have been no decisions made about the future of the show.

A Paramount Global spokesman said that they are always looking for ways to maximize the value of their content investment by giving consumers access to great Paramount content.

The change has given us the chance to more closely align our studios, networks and streaming operations as we execute on our vision and strategy for the future.

The global subscriber base of Paramount+ is expected to hit 100 million by the end of the century. About 64 million subscribers are reported across all of the company's streaming services. In the first quarter of this year, the pay TV network lost half a million subscribers.

In August, Paramount Global announced a promotion that would allow Paramount+ subscribers to watch content from Showtime for a fee. The people said that the offer was the first step towards merging the services.

Pay TV distributor agreements are an obstacle to pushing together. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Paramount was considering shuttering its own streaming service, called Showtime.

Paramount Global executives are considering moving Paramount+ originals and movies to Showtime in order to make it a mirror of Paramount+'s content that doesn't appear on other TV networks, two people said. Pricing could be adjusted against the merged streaming product.

There is a trend in media and entertainment. Premium cable networks don't have the scale to survive against the biggest streaming services. They are looking for ways to expand their audience. Next year, Discovery+ will be merging with the cable channel, which will feature content from HBO. The company is considering merging with other companies to gain scale.

Eliminating Showtime as an independent entity would bring with it cost savings from head count reductions.

CNBC had an interview with Paramount Global CEO Bob.