MediaQuest, STAR in talks

MediaQuest Holdings Inc., a unit of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), confirmed yesterday that it was in talks for its possible entry into The Philippine Star Group of publications.

For his part, Miguel Belmonte, president and chief executive officer of Philstar Daily Inc., said, “There are ongoing talks but there is nothing definite yet. Nothing has been signed. No money has been exchanged.”

In a statement, MediaQuest chief technology officer Jose Benjamin Fernandez said the company “is in discussions with The Philippine Star Group for a possible investment.”

STAR editor-in-chief Isaac Belmonte, the eldest of the three Belmonte sons, said: “The potential partnership is in line with The STAR’s plan to go multi-media, which is the journalism trend worldwide.”

The Belmonte family is the majority owner of The STAR Group.

PLDT, in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, also denied that a sale had already taken place as reported yesterday in The Manila Standard Today. The report quoted sources supposedly privy to the deal.

MediaQuest, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund, has interests in various media-related ventures, including a controlling stake in Nation Broadcasting Corp., which operates a network of radio stations; a minority stake in Central CATV; and a 30-percent stake in BusinessWorld.

MediaQuest also owns 360media Corp. (formerly GV Broadcasting System Inc.), which has a congressional franchise to provide broadcast services. 360media also has a direct-to-user license that allows it to broadcast via satellite or terrestrial wireless transmission.

The Philippine STAR Group is the country’s biggest print publishing group. Aside from The STAR, the group also publishes the tabloids Pilipino Star Ngayon and PM, Cebu-based The Freeman, Banat, People Asia Magazine and The Fookien Times Philippines Yearbook.

The paper was set up by Betty Go-Belmonte, Max Soliven, Art Borjal and Antonio Roces in the wake of the downfall of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. - With Mary Ann Reyes