Canwest Global Communications Corp. won an extension from its lenders yesterday, giving the media firm's main holding unit more time to re-capitalize under creditor protection.

The company said it now has until early January to table a new proposal to creditors of Canwest Media Inc.

CMI -- which operates most broadcasting properties for Canwest, including the Global Television Network -- filed for creditor protection on Oct. 6, blaming a steep decline in advertising revenues stemming from the recession. The drop led CMI to miss interest payments on some $950 million the unit owed lenders.

In total, Canwest -- which also owns the National Post, Times Colonist and other major daily newspapers across Canada -- owed more than $3 billion to lenders at the time of CMI's filing.