There’s no thaw in the continuing frosty relations between embattled radio station owner Cumulus Media and ratings record keeper Nielsen.
Radio + Television Business Report posted Friday, September 11, that attorneys representing the two companies are back in court, as the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals the day before granted an administrative stay of a district court’s order on Tuesday. That order amended the terms of a preliminary injunction the Second Circuit previously affirmed.
That’s bad news for Atlanta-based broadcaster Cumulus, which is trying to navigate itself out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy even as it spent the Summer dismissing several staff members at its radio stations nationally as well as here in Atlanta, where Cumulus stations WNNX and WWWQ saw many of its on- and off-air pros depart due to company budget cuts. Cumulus has also been spinning off stations to eliminate roughly $600 billion in debt. Cumulus was to sell 30% of its equity interest to Alden Global Capital to help alleviate some of that debt load.
On August 25, the Second Circuit vacated a stay that blocked Cumulus’ antitrust injunction against Nielsen. This reaffirmed a previous order from federal District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas that granted the radio giant a preliminary injunction against Nielsen’s policies. Another injunction granted February 3 this year was also vacated. Nielsen is now back in court appealing last Tuesday’s order, saying new obligations not included in the December 30 ruling were inappropriately added to the complaint.
According to R+TBR, Cumulus now has to comply with court orders to reach a deal with Nielsen on a national ratings agreement based on terms provided by the judge. If they do not reach a deal with Nielsen, they would be hit with noncompliance penalties. Cumulus has not paid Nielsen for ratings information since February, so its stations have no ratings data to guide programming and financial decisions, crimping the company’s operations.
What effect these legal moves will have on Cumulus Media’s future remains to be seen. The Federal Communications Commission approved the company’s Chapter 11 reorganization on August 20th. Cumulus owns 384 stations across 84 markets, in addition to the radio syndication company, Westwood One.
