The company requested a halt while the board decides how to proceed with financing, after learning over the weekend that billionaire shareholders Lachlan Murdoch (through his investment vehicle Illryia) and Bruce Gordon (through his vehicle Birketu) will not guarantee a $250 million debt renewal due in December. 

"Over the weekend, TEN received correspondence from financial advisers to Illyria Pty Limited and Birketu Pty Limited, two of the shareholders which guarantee the company's current credit facility," the company told the market. 

"That correspondence confirms that those guarantors do not intend to extend or increase their support for the Company's credit facilities beyond the term of the current facility which expires on 23 December 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. Pending these determinations over the coming days, TEN considers that its shares will not be able to trade on an informed basis and, accordingly, requests the trading halt."

The company faces potential administration if it can't secure a new source of funding.

Lachlan Murdoch holds 7.5 per cent while Bruce Gordon controls 15 per cent. James Packer, is understood to be keen to sell his 7.7 per cent stake. 

The appointment of administrators could give the broadcaster a chance to extract itself from onerous supply contracts with US networks CBS and 20th Century Fox. 

A lengthy administration process would also give Parliament time to pass proposed media reform laws that would lift ownership restrictions and scrap broadcast licence fees (costing Ten about $23 million annually). But the new laws have not been introduced yet and Parliament has just nine sitting weeks left this year. 

Mr Murdoch and Mr Gordon are both prevented from owning controlling stakes in Ten by the two-out-of-three and reach rules in media ownership laws.

In late April the board warned there was material uncertainty about the group's ability to continue as going concern unless it was able to cut costs, renegotiate contracts with US suppliers, and secure licence fee cuts. It was also reliant on the three shareholders guaranteeing the next loan. 

Back in 2013, directors also warned the cost and risk of other funding sources "made them unpalatable", raising questions about Ten's ability to find palatable sources of debt in coming months, especially given shareholder support was necessary to clinch an affordable and acceptable loan from Commonwealth Bank. 

Network Ten has often struggled since it was launched in the 1960s, according to Mark Westfield, author of a history of Australia's media industry called The Gatekeepers. 

"Every time Ten gets into trouble, the many times it has struck financial trouble, it has found a buyer," he said. 

He sees Foxtel, which already owns 14 per cent of Ten, as the logical buyer, but this would require it to work around existing media ownership laws or wait until the reforms pass. 

The current chairman, David Gordon, is a former corporate adviser and lawyer. Other directors include Debbie Goodin, former trade minister Andrew Robb (who represents Gina Rinehart's 8.2 per cent), Andrew Lancaster, chief executive of Win Corporation and representative for Mr Gordon's 15 per cent, and Foxtel chief executive Peter Tonagh.

 – The Age