The Wall Street Journal says the high-yield offering would be made by subsidiary Clear Channel Outdoor, and would help keep Clear Channel’s debt levels within covenant. That limit is currently 9.5 times cash flow, with the company reporting an 8.8 level at the end of the third quarter. The Journal observes that the new issue of $2.5 billion in debt on the Outdoor division would likely come at a high interest rate of 8-9%. But conditions in the high-yield debt market have improved lately, making a new issue more doable. The prices on Clear Channel’s existing bonds have more than doubled from 28 cents to about 68 cents, suggesting that the market is no longer so worried about an imminent default.