Dr. Phil McGraw鈥檚 Fort Worth-based TV network, Merit Street Media, has filed for bankruptcy a little over a year after its first broadcast and sued its business partner, Trinity Broadcasting Network.
The lawsuit alleges that Trinity 鈥渟abotaged鈥� Merit Street through its "conscious and knowing choice to cause Merit Street to lose its national distribution by withholding payments.鈥�
Merit Street claims that it was forced to take on more than $100 million in payments or obligations to others as a result of its partnership with Trinity.
In April Merit Street announced that it . In June it , and put one of its anchor programs, Dr. Phil Primetime, on .
But problems began much earlier, according to the filing.
Merit Street described TBN鈥檚 production services as 鈥渃omically dysfunctional.鈥� It cited teleprompter blackouts, malfunctioning monitors and faulty touch screens used for video editing as a few examples of Trinity鈥檚 broken promises.
鈥淭hese glaring problems became apparent as soon as rehearsals for Dr. Phil Primetime began in early 2024,鈥� the complaint stated. 鈥淥n a daily basis, Merit Street raised the issues with TBN. The reply was always the same: in effect, 鈥楧on鈥檛 worry about it, we鈥檒l handle it.鈥� But TBN did not handle it.鈥�
In November of 2024, Merit Street Media鈥檚 broadcasting agreement with Professional Bull Riders soured.
What was supposed to be a 4-year partnership ended after less than one year, when PBR announced it was leaving the network in that alleged Merit Street failed to make payments outlined in its contract.
In August 2024, the company laid off 38 employees, .
McGraw has North Texas roots. The celebrity psychologist got his doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of North Texas .
He became a national figure after recurring appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and later landed his own daytime program.
McGraw created his new network and brought it to Texas after his national daytime TV show Dr. Phil ended after 21 seasons.
Neither Merit Street Media nor Trinity Broadcasting Network responded to requests for comment prior to publication.
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and 四虎影院.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, The University of Texas at Dallas, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and 四虎影院 retain full editorial control of Arts Access鈥� journalism.
