Channel Ten is teetering on the brink, after the media company confirmed on Tuesday it had failed to win a $200 million funding deal from its key shareholders.

Ten asked for its shares to be placed in a 48-hour trading halt after Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon – who own 7.7 and 15 per cent stakes respectively through their private investment vehicles, Illyria and Birketu – said they will no longer guarantee its debt when its current debt facility expires on December 23.

In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), Ten said it had been told that desperately needed finance would not be rolled over beyond the current expiry date of December 23, 2017.

“Ten’s board is considering the position of the company in light of the position being taken by Illyria and Birketu and the range of restructuring and refinancing initiatives it has underway,” the company said in a statement to the ASX.

Ten is seeking a new, $250 million debt facility in place of the $200 million one guaranteed by Mr Murdoch, Mr Gordon and Mr Packer in 2013.

But another option for Ten is to be placed in receivership to help the company get out of some of the costly contracts it has with major studios such as Fox and CBS.

Another billionaire, James Packer, is understood to have had his 7.5 per cent stake on the market for some time, but has been unable to finder a buyer.

The network’s other major backer is Gina Rinehart.

Stark warning

In April, Ten reported a loss of $232.2 million for the first half of 2016-17, mainly because the group’s accountants marked down the value of its broadcasting licence by $214.5 million.

Ten leadership warned at the time it needed “favourable outcomes” in a range of financial dealings to contain the looming threat to its viability.

The directors’ reports said there was “material uncertainty” about the business’s “ability to continue as a going concern”.

In particular, the board warned the company may cease to exist if it can’t renew its loan, with experts warning that its latest multi-million dollar loss makes a takeover by Rupert Murdoch a very real prospect.

Ten’s poor half-year result was largely in line with heavy write-downs by its competitors, the Seven and Nine networks.

Ten has flagged renegotiation of some of its programming contracts as one potential savings area, and all commercial TV networks received a gift from the federal government in the May federal budget when broadcast licence fees were scrapped in favour of cheaper spectrum-usage charges.

Ten shares last traded at an all-time closing low of 16 cents after falling by more than 90 per cent in the past two years.