Cumulus Media Inc.

Cumulus is operating under a confirmed prepackaged plan but remains in Chapter 11 while it waits on FCC approval needed to reach the effective date, with recent activity focused on claims clean-up and preserving litigation-removal flexibility through the RSA outside date. The company entered Chapter 11 after secular pressure in broadcast radio, digital competition, high interest costs, and a Nielsen Audio “network tying” dispute strained liquidity despite a 2024 maturity-extension transaction; by the petition date, the debtors had about $46 million of cash and approximately $697.1 million of funded debt across the ABL facility, 2029 term loans, 2029 secured notes, 2026 term loans, and 2026 senior notes, as described in the Lopez-Balboa First Day DeclarationDkt. 15.

The case was filed as a prepackaged balance-sheet restructuring rather than a sale process. The debtors had an RSA with holders of 72.05% of 2029 debt claims and proposed to deleverage by about $592 million, reduce annual cash interest by about $49 million, roll the ABL into exit financing, issue $50 million of exit convertible notes, hand 95% of new common stock to allowed 2029 secured claimholders, distribute the remaining equity pool to other funded debt, leave general unsecured claims unimpaired, and cancel existing equity without recovery through the Joint Prepackaged PlanDkt. 20.

Liquidity has been handled through consensual cash collateral rather than a new-money DIP facility. The court entered final cash-collateral relief on March 25, granting adequate protection liens, superpriority claims, professional-fee protections, biweekly variance testing, and a $15 million minimum availability covenant, while tying the case to milestones for confirmation within 55 days of the petition date and effectiveness within 75 days after confirmation, subject to the regulatory extension framework in the .