CBS is losing one for the Gipper.
The network is expected to dump “The Reagans,” its controversial film about the former First Family on little-watched pay cable channel Showtime.

The unprecedented move away from the film – scheduled to air during the November ratings sweeps – comes amid howls of protests from conservatives and Reagan family friends who have called the film a hatchet job.

Word inside the network was that CBS chairman Leslie Moonves and his top lieutenant, entertainment president Nancy Tellem, agreed the movie does not provide a balanced portrayal of the Republican icon.

The complaints against the movie have been based on portions of the script leaked to the press and promotional clips distributed by the network.

The film generated enough heat to lead to the creation of an anti-CBS Web site and threats of an advertiser boycott.

The growing controversy even forced Hollywood liberal Barbra Streisand – whose husband, James Brolin, plays Reagan in the film – to issue a statement on her Web site that said she had never seen the script. She also said the casting of her husband had nothing to do with her politics.

“The Reagans,” which also stars Judy Davis as Nancy Reagan, was scheduled to air on Nov. 16 and 18 – smack in the middle of the November sweeps ratings period for CBS, which reaches nearly all of the estimated 106.7 million homes with TV.

Instead, the movie will probably be buried on the network’s corporate cousin Showtime – available in the 28 million homes that pay for it.

Both CBS and Showtime are owned by Viacom.

CBS officials declined to comment about the status of the movie.

But they are expected to make an official announcement later this week. The project also became a target because of the political leanings of the people behind it. Moonves has ties to the Democratic Party and former President Bill Clinton.

Executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are friends and occasional producing partners with Streisand.

Last week, Moonves acknowledged in a TV interview that portions of the movie are unfair. CBS executives were at work reediting it last week.

But the pressure from Reagan’s admirers never let up. On Friday, the Republican National Committee demanded to screen the film with Reagan allies to judge its accuracy.

CBS may also be taking a financial hit from the show. Several advertisers have pulled their commercials out of the film, although there has been no full-scale defection, Madison Avenue sources said.