Update 9:30 p.m. Thursday:
Robert Greenblatt is stepping down as Showtime's entertainment president; he will be replaced by David Nevins, several individuals familiar with the situation told TheWrap. Read more here.
Previously:
David Nevins is out after eight years as president of Imagine Television.
His contract was not being renewed, an individual with knowledge of the situation confirmed to TheWrap.
Twentieth Century Fox TV officials were not happy with their relationship with Nevins, the individual said.
Imagine just renewed its development deal with Fox Television.
Variety reported late Thursday that Nevins will step into Robert Greenblatt's role as entertainment president at Showtime; Greenblatt's contract expires next month, the paper said. Showtime could not be reached for comment.
Nevins was named president of Imagine Television in July 2002. He has been in charge of television development and production for shows on both broadcast and cable networks.
However, most of the Imagine shows developed through 20th on broadcast and cable right now, including "Friday Night Lights," "Lie to Me," "Parenthood" and the new show scheduled for this fall, "Friends With Benefits," stemmed from ideas generated by Imagine partners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, according to the executive.
Neither Imagine nor Fox Television could be immediately reached for comment. But an individual at the studio who did not want to be identified told TheWrap there were no hard feelings between Nevins and 20th officials over programming. "We just couldn't come to terms with him on a new deal that was acceptable to both parties," he said.
Another individual familiar with the situation did say that there were issues with Nevins with internal relationships.
In the arrangement between 20th and Imagine, 20th is responsible for Nevins contract.
Prior to joining Imagine, Nevins served as executive VP of programming at Fox, where he oversaw development and current programming for both comedy and drama series, including Imagine's "24."
He also served as senior VP of primetime series at NBC.
With word now leaked about Nevins' imminent departure from Imagine, it is expected that the company will begin compiling a list of possible replacements, if it hasn't done so already.
