Live Entertainment Credit Line Extended

Live Entertainment Inc., an ailing distributor of home videos, said its bank lenders extended the Van Nuys company’s line of credit to next Jan. 29. The group is led by Chemical Bank.

Also, Live and an unofficial committee of holders of the company’s 14.5% senior subordinated notes due 1999 and its Series A convertible preferred stock also reached agreement to extend the deadline for a restructuring of Live to Jan. 29.

That restructuring also is contingent on Live’s obtaining a new line of credit. Live said it is currently holding talks with its existing bank group for such financing.

Live offered plans last month to restructure $110 million of the notes and 1.05 million of the preferred shares by exchanging those securities for a combination of new securities and cash. But Live warned it might have to file for bankruptcy court protection if not enough holders of the securities accepted its offer.

Live is 49.9%-owned by Carolco Pictures Inc., a Los Angeles film producer that is having its own financial problems. Carolco said Monday it will not make interest payments due today on $50 million of notes it has outstanding, but that it has a 30-day grace period to make the payments before defaulting. Carolco also said its bank group agreed to extend the company’s line of credit through Jan. 9.