Qintex Makes No Move to Revive MGM/UA Proposal : Entertainment: NBC emerges as a potential investor if the Australian outfit can revive its bid for the film and TV company.

The fate of MGM/UA Communications Co. remained unresolved Thursday as the Australian Qintex Group made no effort to revive its collapsed $1.5-billion deal to acquire the entertainment company, a Qintex official said.

Kevin Wallace, chief financial officer of Qintex America, said Thursday night that “categorically” there has been no effort by any Qintex representative to patch up relations or revive the bid, which Wallace said would have included the financial participation of NBC as one of 10 investors. Likewise, MGM/UA has made no effort to contact Qintex, Wallace said.

MGM/UA’s lead attorney did not return a telephone call, but one of his partners--Andrew M. White--was quoted by Reuters news service as saying that MGM and Qintex were “in communication” although he added, “Based on where we are right now, there are no grounds for optimism.”

An NBC spokesman confirmed that the television network had recently struck a verbal agreement with Qintex to participate as an investor, although the spokesman, Joseph Rutledge, declined to say just how much the company was prepared to chip in.

Rutledge also declined to say how NBC planned to cope with federal rules that restrict the major networks’ role in owning or distributing programming to local TV stations. “That’s the $64 question,” he said.

But the NBC executive insisted that the company is not trying to use the investment as a “trial balloon” to test politicians’ reaction to a network investing in a studio. Rutledge noted that since last November, NBC has held an option to acquire up to 15% of Qintex Australia Ltd., which owns Australian Television Network.

An MGM spokeswoman declined to say what role--if any--NBC might play in reviving MGM/UA’s interest in a sale to Qintex.

MGM/UA terminated the planned sale to Qintex earlier this week after the Australian company failed to deliver a $50-million letter of credit due on Sept. 22. The non-refundable payment was a key condition of a sweetened Qintex bid in September that topped a cash offer from media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Fox Inc., the entertainment company he controls.

Fox Chairman Barry Diller said Thursday that he personally is not eager to bid anew. “Life for me has moved on,” Diller said. “I’m not foreclosing any future development. However, one thing I have realized is how many opportunities exist in the Fox company and deserve full-time development.”

Analysts had viewed the bid as a Murdoch-driven move to acquire the valuable United Artists film library, which could help supply Murdoch’s far-flung television holdings, which include a new satellite-delivered television service in Britain.

For a similar reason, a securities analyst privately speculated Thursday that cable television entrepreneur Ted Turner might be interested in acquiring MGM/UA--principally for the United Artists library--if the price appeared reasonable. But the analyst acknowledged that Turner might meet resistance from cable television operators on his board, who gained their seats after they helped bail Turner out of his financial dilemma after he bought the MGM film library in 1986.

MGM/UA shares rose 37.50 cents to close Thursday at $20.375 on the New York Stock Exchange.

On the Australian Stock Exchange, Qintex closed unchanged at 45 cents (Australian).

In over-the-counter trading in the United States, Qintex Entertainment Inc. rose $1.25 a share, closing at $5.25, after losing $1.625 a share the previous day. The company is a television production unit that is 43% owned by Qintex but is not directly involved in the bid for MGM/UA.