Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

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:

CUMULUS MEDIA NEW HOLDINGS INC., :

:

Plaintiff, :

: 25-CV-08581 (JAV)

-v- :

: ORDER GRANTING

THE NIELSEN COMPANY (US) LLC, : MOTION TO SEAL

:

Defendant. :

:

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JEANNETTE A. VARGAS, United States District Judge:

Plaintiff Cumulus Media New Holdings Inc. (“Cumulus”) and Defendant The Nielsen

Company (US) LLC (“Nielsen”) appeared before this Court December 8, 9, and 11, 2025, for a

hearing regarding Cumulus’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction. The Court granted the application

to close the courtroom for certain portions of the hearing that included discussion of nonpublic and

competitively sensitive information. ECF No. 111. Now before the Court is Cumulus’s motion to

seal the transcript of those proceedings. ECF No. 152 (“Mot.”).

Plaintiff’s motion is GRANTED. Cumulus has made a sufficient showing that the portions

of the transcripts it seeks to seal—limited to nonpublic third-party financial information, discussed

in a closed session, and competitively sensitive information regarding Cumulus’s business

operations, discussed at a sidebar—qualify as “confidential business information” that is material to

these entities’ competitive position in the market and that could potentially inflict “significant

competitive disadvantage” on Cumulus and the third-party through disclosure. Standard Inv.

Chartered, Inc. v. Fin. Indus. Regul. Auth., Ind., 347 F. App’x 615, 617 (2d Cir. 2009) (internal

quotation marks omitted). The Court therefore finds that, in this instance, the “interest in protecting

confidential business information outweighs the qualified First Amendment presumption of public

access.” /d. (internal citations and quotation marks omitted); Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga,

435 F.3d 110, 124 (2d Cir. 2006).

The Court orders that pages 167-208 from the transcript of the proceedings held on

December 9, 2025, and pages 329-331 from the transcript of the proceedings held on December 11,

2025, shall be sealed. The Clerk of Court is directed to terminate ECF No. 152.

SO ORDERED. -

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Dated: February 2, 2026 LOWMEAAL HAQGA

New York, New York SEANNETTE A. VARGAS

“ United States District Judge