Asked during a press call today about cooling talks with Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), News Corp (NYSE: NWS) COO Peter Chernin replied quickly: “Saying talks have cooled overstates them ... I’m not sure I would ever characterize (conversations) as ‘talks.’ As for Microsoft, “we’re not in discussions with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT). We talk with everybody in the space.” When it came up again, Chernin said,  “I have not had a conversation with Yahoo or AOL (NYSE: TWX) in a couple of weeks.” Rupert Murdoch dittoed that.

Of course, that doesn’t preclude “conversations” at other levels.

• Yahoo Board To Meet Friday; Solo Microsoft Still Seen As Odds-On Favorite
• Markets React To Microsoft-Yahoo-Google-News Corp.-AOL
• Microsoft and News Corp in Talks on Joint Bid For Yahoo; Possible Higher Bid; MSN+YHOO+MySpace