• by Wayne Friedman , February 5, 2010

In move long anticipated, Andrea Wong will leave as president/CEO of Lifetime Networks.

Last year, a restructuring of equity interests in A&E Networks and Lifetime of its owners, Disney-ABC Television, Hearst Corp. and NBC Universal, left Lifetime Networks under the roof and direction of A&E Networks, run by Abbe Raven, president and CEO of AETN.

Raven stated: "We thank Andrea for her many contributions to Lifetime. We are pleased she will be with us for a transition period, and we wish her well in her future endeavors."

The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood Daily on Friday.

Wong took over as president/CEO of Lifetime Networks in April 2007. Her most notable achievement was negotiating a mega-deal to acquire "Project Runway" from The Weinstein Company. It was a longtime hit on NBC Universal's Bravo. The Lifetime deal led to a public lawsuit that was settled.

Despite this coup, Lifetime has been hit with low ratings over the past year. By one measure, total prime-time viewers have declined 20% this broadcast season to an average 1.2 million. In the Lifetime's key women 25-54 demo, viewers are down 17% to an average 404,000.

Wong joined Lifetime from ABC, after developing various top reality hits, including "Dancing with the Stars" and "The Bachelor."