NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

MTV spreads out awards show to get more viewers

NEW YORK

MTV boosted the viewership of its annual Video Music Awards, this year hosted by Miley Cyrus, with a little help from its friends.

The Nielsen company said just over 5 million people watched the program on MTV on Sunday night, which would have represented a sharp drop from last year’s 8.3 million and the 10.1 million who watched in 2013.

Instead, MTV’s corporate parent, Viacom, aired the show simultaneously on 10 separate networks. It was seen on MTV and its offshoots but also on Comedy Central, BET, CMT, TV Land and Logo. Add in that viewership, and MTV said the awards were seen by 9.8 million people, with the show still being seen in reruns or on DVRs.

NBC said its “Carmichael Show” debuted last week to 4.8 million viewers, the largest audience for any summertime comedy in eight years.

CBS won the week with an average of 5.4 million viewers in prime time.

Wrestler Snuka charged in 1983 death

ALLENTOWN, Pa.

Former professional wrestling star Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka was charged Tuesday with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the death of his girlfriend more than three decades ago.

Prosecutors in Lehigh County announced the results of a grand-jury probe into the death of Nancy Argentino, 23, of New York.

Snuka, who had been at a World Wrestling Federation taping at the Allentown Fairgrounds, said he returned to the couple’s Whitehall Township hotel room in May 1983 to find her gasping for air and oozing yellow fluid from her mouth and nose, The (Allentown) Morning Call reported. She was pronounced dead at a hospital the next day.

An autopsy determined she died of traumatic brain injuries and had more than two dozen cuts and bruises, and said her injuries were consistent with being hit with a stationary object. At the time, forensic pathologist Isidore Mihalakis wrote that the case should be investigated as a homicide until proven otherwise, the newspaper reported.

Associated Press