Andrea Wong, chief executive of Lifetime for nearly three years, is leaving the network. Her contract was due to expire in April.

The shake-up comes less than six months after a corporate restructuring that lumped Lifetime into the A&E Television Networks group, leaving Wong no longer the top executive at the joint venture between Hearst Corp. and Walt Disney Co. Instead, she reported to Abbe Raven, the head of A&E Television Networks. 

Wong worked to give Lifetime a makeover from the network's frumpy image -- but some of her bold business moves backfired.

The MIT graduate agreed to spend more than $150 million to nab the hit show "Project Runway" from Bravo. The expensive deal, which wound up in court when NBC Universal contested the legitimacy of the channel switch, included dozens of movies from the Weinstein Co. that were viewed as stinkers. While "Project Runway" performed well -- though down considerably from when it aired on Bravo -- ratings at the channel have been sliding. It was not the uplifting Lifetime story that Wong was hoping to write when she left her prominent job at ABC in 2007. 

Wong's departure was first reported by the blog deadline hollywood.  It is unclear where Wong will land.

-- Meg James 

Walt Disney Co., General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal and Hearst Corp. have finalized an agreement to merge several cable networks together, for now anyway.

Under the terms of the agreement, A&E Television Networks (AETN), which is owned by all three companies, will acquire Lifetime Entertainment Services, which is owned by Disney and Hearst. The channels that will now make up A&E Television Networks are A&E, History Channel, Lifetime Television, Biography and a handful of smaller networks.

Although the deal is being positioned as joining the three companies together, ultimately it is part of an ongoing process to reduce and eventually eliminate NBC Universal's stake in the entity. When the deal is completed, Disney and Hearst will each own 42.5%, and NBC Universal will have a 15% stake. The companies said there are "mechanisms" that could require NBC Universal to exit the partnership no later than 15 years and quite possibly sooner.

For NBC, which only had a 25% in AETN prior to the merger, the deal makes sense because it will be part of a bigger more valuable entity, even if its piece is smaller. The company still has a strong group of cable networks of its own with USA, Syfy, Bravo and MSNBC among others.

Abbe Raven, president and chief executive of AETN, will oversee the new entity, and Andrea Wong, the high-profile CEO of Lifetime, will report to her. There will likely be layoffs once the deal is completed. The companies said the combination is expected to "yield substantial cost efficiencies."

-- Joe Flint

Almost 16 months after Lifetime Television struck a deal to snag the fashion reality hit "Project Runway" from Bravo the show will finally debut in its new home tonight.

A lot is riding on this for Lifetime, which needs "Project Runway" and its stars Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum to bring in a big young audience for its investment to pay off. According to Nielsen Media Research, Lifetime's prime-time audience has fallen in the last six years from an average of 1.7 million viewers in 2004 to 1.2 million this year, a drop of almost 30%. Among women ages 18 to 49 during the same period, the drop is 33% and for women ages 25 to 54 Lifetime is down 37%. While the network has had some recent successes with "Drop Dead Diva" and the drama "Army Wives," its median age is still hovering around 50.

So can one show heading into its sixth season turn everything around? Probably not, but it's a start. During its last two seasons on Bravo, "Project Runway" has drawn more viewers than Lifetime's prime-time averageof the last few years. Its season five premiere took in almost 3 million people. No wonder NBC and Bravo were willing to put up such a huge fight to try to keep the show from moving.

Besides heavy promotion for the return of "Project Runway," Lifetime is also making it available online, something Bravo was unable to do in its deal. PaidContent's Staci D. Kramer broke news today that full episodes will be available at MyLifetime.com on the Saturday following the Thursday episode. It's the only place online to find the show, Kramer notes, since Lifetime isn't making it available on iTunes or other sites and outlets.

The cash-strapped Weinstein Co., which ended up paying millions to NBC in order to take it to Lifetime, also has some risks in the move. "Project Runway" used to be made by a production company called Magical Elves. But since Magical Elves does other shows with NBC and Bravo, the show is now produced by reality kings Bunim/Murray ("The Real World"), a company that's known to be quite expensive.

While the dog days of August may seem like an odd time to premiere such a big bet, Lifetime was obliged to launch "Project Runway" now as part of the settlement with NBC, people familiar with the matter said. That may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. After all, the competition is a little lighter and fewer people are taking vacations this summer because of the weak economy. Last week, AMC's "Mad Men" had record ratings in its season three premiere. 

Ironically, after all the fighting between NBC and Lifetime and Weinstein Co. over "Project Runway," the Peacock network may end up still profiting from the program. It's in talks with Lifetime's parents about merging some of their cable networks (which also includes A&E) into one entity.

-- Joe Flint

Photo: "Project Runway" stars Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum. Credit: Mike Yarish / Lifetime Networks

Imagine if the New York Yankees were co-owned by the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles. Sounds crazy, right? But in the entertainment industry such partnerships among rivals are becoming more and more the norm. For example, Hulu, the red-hot online video site, is owned by News Corp., NBC Universal and the Walt Disney Co. The CW Network is owned by Time Warner and CBS.

Now Disney, NBC Universal and Hearst Corp. are near a deal to create a new joint venture that would house cable networks A&E, History Channel and Lifetime. The news was broken by Claire Atkinson at Broadcasting & Cable. Here's how it would work, per Atkinson. Hearst, Disney and NBC already are partners on A&E and History and a handful of spin-off channels (Hearst and Disney each owns 37.5% and NBC has a 25% stake). Disney and Hearst co-own Lifetime. The three companies would create a new company combining all the networks that would be majority owned by Hearst and Disney, with NBC getting a stake that would be less than 25%, according to a person briefed on the talks.

On the surface, the deal makes sense for everyone. NBC gets a chunk of Lifetime, a very successful cable network, while Disney and Hearst get a bigger piece of three powerful cable channels.

There are cost-savings (that is, layoffs). The new entity will probably combine a lot of backroom operations such as affiliate relations and maybe even sales and marketing.

But here's the rub. While the companies are partners on these channels, they have other interests that conflict. NBC owns Bravo, USA, SyFy and Oxygen, which compete with Lifetime and A&E. Disney and Hearst own ESPN, which competes with NBC on occasion for sports rights. These networks often find themselves bidding on the same content, and the channels that have multiple ownerships can find their needs taking a backseat.

Viacom used to be in the joint-ownership game but recognized the unintended consequences when it was partnered with Time Warner on Comedy Central and owned a stake in Lifetime. It ultimately bought out Time Warner and sold back its interest in Lifetime.

From a purely competitive standpoint, these partnerships are ultimately bad news to the creative community. It becomes tougher to create bidding wars for content if the channels you're pitching are all owned by the same companies.

There is some irony in all this if the deal goes through. NBC, which lost a nasty legal battle to stop "Project Runway" from leaving Bravo to Lifetime, would be able to profit from the show. 

-- Joe Flint