Latest deadline looms in Canwest creditor talks

* Tuesday latest deadline in creditor talks

* Canwest seeks to restructure C$4 bln debtload (In U.S. dollars unless noted)

By Wojtek Dabrowski

TORONTO, May 5 (Reuters) - Canwest Global Communications Corp CGS.TO faces its latest deadline on Tuesday in talks with creditors to restructure its creaking balance sheet amid an advertising downturn that has bruised its newspapers and television stations.

Canwest, Canada's biggest media company, has until sometime later on Tuesday to reach a deal -- or yet again extend negotiations -- with both its senior lenders and investors holding its 8 percent senior subordinated notes.

The company already owes a $30.4 million interest payment to the noteholders, who now have the right to demand payment of about $761 million in principal. However, the investors have agreed not to do this, opting to hold talks with the company instead.

This could change at any time, however, and a repayment demand could spell serious and immediate trouble for Canwest.

The company has also spent recent months negotiating with its senior lenders. Repeated deadlines in these talks have been set before, only to be extended.

While critical, the senior subordinated note negotiations are only the tip of the iceberg for Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Canwest, which has a debtload of about C$4 billion ($3.4 billion).

The recession continues to choke the advertising market, which is the lifeblood of Canwest's stable of newspapers and television stations. It has also depressed the appetite that potential buyers might have for Canwest's assets.

The company owns a chain of daily newspapers in Canada, including the flagship National Post, as well as the Global television network. It also has television operations in Australia, through its stake in Network Ten.

Analysts have said that Canwest could file for bankruptcy protection, but the company thus far has continued to negotiate with creditors rather than involve the courts.

A big part of its debt dates back to its 2000 acquisition of Hollinger International's newspaper assets for C$3.2 billion.

That deal made Canwest the country's biggest publisher of daily newspapers. It included 13 big-city dailies as well as 126 community newspapers, Internet assets and a 50 percent stake in the National Post. The company later bought full control of the Post.

In 2007, Canwest expanded its television holdings by partnering with an affiliate of U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS.N) to buy specialty-TV group Alliance Atlantis Communications for C$2.3 billion.

Canwest is controlled by the Asper family of Winnipeg.

($1=$1.18 Canadian) (Reporting by Wojtek Dabrowski; editing by Rob Wilson)