TELEVISIONMTV Nominations: Rock group Aerosmith led the...

TELEVISION

MTV Nominations: Rock group Aerosmith led the pack with seven nods, followed closely by pop band R.E.M. with six, in the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards nominations, announced Wednesday. Both groups were nominated for the year’s best video (for “Cryin’ ” and “Everybody Hurts,” respectively), along with the rap group Beastie Boys (“Sabotage”) and Seattle’s Nirvana (“Heart-Shaped Box”), which was led by the late Kurt Cobain. The latter two bands were also among the most nominated, with four nods each. Other top nominees included alternative singer Bjork (“Human Behaviour”), named in five categories, among them best female video; and pop divas En Vogue (“Runaway,” “Whatta Man”) and New Age group Deep Forrest (“Sweet Lullaby”), each nominated four times. The awards will be held in New York on Sept. 8, hosted by Roseanne Arnold. Performers include Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and Snoop Doggy Dogg.

Triple ‘Dateline’: NBC News is expected to combine its newsmagazine operations under the umbrella title of “Dateline NBC.” News president Andrew Lack has wanted to put the newsmagazines into a “strip” across prime time for several months. NBC already is airing “Dateline NBC” two nights a week this summer, with Jane Pauley and Stone Phillips as anchors. The staff of the weekly “Now,” currently anchored by Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric, is expected to be folded into the “Dateline” staff. Network sources also said that the third “Dateline” evening might be anchored by rotating NBC anchors, allowing Brokaw and Couric to devote more time to their daily programs--”NBC Nightly News,” which Brokaw anchors, and the “Today” show, which Couric co-anchors.

*Fox Plans Simpson Movie: Fox confirmed Wednesday that it is developing a TV movie about the still-unfolding O.J. Simpson case. No details were provided, but the project was listed among original films planned for “Fox Night at the Movies” this season. Others include biographies of Mia Farrow and Madonna, a movie about the 30-year-old Boston Strangler case and a drama about a family that “finds itself in an unrelenting battle of life or death when a wrathful swarm of killer bees holds them prisoner.”

MOVIES

River Phoenix Estate Sued: The estate of actor River Phoenix, who died of a drug overdose outside a Los Angeles nightclub on Nov. 1, has been sued by insurance and production companies that claim they lost millions of dollars in conjunction with two unreleased movies he had committed to before his death. Both lawsuits, filed in the Aluchua County, Fla., Circuit Court where Phoenix’s will is filed, allege the 23-year-old actor broke his contracts by denying illegal drug use during an August, 1993, physical examination. One suit is in conjunction with the almost-completed “Dark Blood,” which was scrapped after Phoenix died, forcing insurers to pay producers and financiers almost $5.5 million. The other centers on the film version of Ann Rice’s “Interview With a Vampire.” Producers recast Phoenix’s role with Christian Slater, but still want more than $185,000 in damages. Phoenix’s will, written in February of 1993, is under seal. RADIO

*KACE-FM Buyout: Cox Broadcasting Co. has agreed to buy urban station KACE-FM (103.9) from former NFL great Willie Davis. Cox, which owns KFI-AM and KOST-FM, along with four other AM and nine other FM stations around the country, said its sale is pending FCC approval and the resolution of some legal issues.

THE ARTS

Center of Cooperation: In a deal said to signal “a new era of cooperation” between the Orange County Philharmonic Society and the Orange County Performing Arts Center, the organizations will jointly sponsor two events next season at the Costa Mesa facility. Teatro de Danza Espanola, the Spanish flamenco dance company, will be presented Oct. 6, and Fiesta Navidad, a holiday mariachi celebration, on Dec. 11. According to the agreement, the center will provide “significant technical and publicity support” while the Philharmonic will assume financial responsibility and receive all event revenues. The deal is expected to end previous debates over whether it was appropriate for the Philharmonic to present non-classical music events at the center.

QUICK TAKES

The box-office success of Disney’s “The Lion King” continued to buoy sales of the movie’s soundtrack this week, up 9% and still No. 1 on the nation’s pop chart. Meanwhile, “The Lion King Sing-Along” jumped from No. 52 to 40th place on the chart. . . . Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, the 8-year-old twin entertainment tycoons who share the role of Michelle on ABC’s “Full House,” will produce a series of home videos, albums and interactive products for the children’s division at Bertelsmann Music Group. The “Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley” will debut this September with two musical mysteries and a music album.