TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Longtime Fuji Media Holdings Inc. executive Hisashi Hieda will step down from his role as managing adviser, the company said Thursday, with its broadcasting unit under fire for its handling of a sexual misconduct scandal involving former TV host Masahiro Nakai.

Hieda also left his role as executive managing adviser to the scandal-hit Fuji Television Network Inc. as of Thursday. The network will halve its board members to 10 to "accelerate its decision-making process" and increase the number of women on it to 30 percent.

The 87-year-old Hieda is a former president of Fuji TV and former chairman of Fuji TV and Fuji Media. He became an adviser to the companies in 2017.

He will also be resigning from his role as chairman of the Fujisankei Communications Group.

Fuji TV had initially planned on reforming its structure upon receiving the results of a third-party committee investigation at the end of March, but decided to bring the move forward.

"Reforming our management structure is a major point when it comes to regaining trust. We decided it was something we needed to do as quickly as possible," Fuji Media President Osamu Kanemitsu said during a press conference.

"Managing adviser Hieda had agreed to the reform early on," he added.

Hieda's resignation from Fuji Media will be finalized at a shareholders' meeting in June. The holding company will also cut the number of its board members from 17 to 11 and raise the proportion of women to 36.4 percent.

Fuji Media and Fuji TV hope to significantly lower the average age of their boards by appointing more people below the age of 50.

The move comes amid a controversy over Nakai, best known as a member of the now-defunct pop group SMAP, who was accused of inappropriate behavior toward a woman in 2023. Fuji TV has faced criticism for its handling of the case despite being aware of the "trouble" between them.

Then Fuji TV Chairman Shuji Kano and then President Koichi Minato stepped down in January in light of the scandal, but companies continued to pull advertisements from the broadcaster.

U.S. investment fund Dalton Investments LLC, which holds shares in Fuji Media, later cited dysfunctional governance and called for an end to Hieda's nearly 40-year reign.

Fuji TV President Kenji Shimizu, who assumed the post in January, will retain his position and double as the president of Fuji Media. Kanemitsu will become chairman of Fuji Media, but will not hold the right of representation.