Merit Street Media, the television network owned by celebrity psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw, has filed for bankruptcy just 15 months after its launch.
The company owns the channel Merit TV, which carries talk shows, news, and true crime programs, as well as a streaming service. Merit Street Media is also suing Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), its broadcasting partner.
“Trinity Broadcasting Network is being sued by Merit Street Media for failing to provide clearly agreed-upon national distribution and other significant foundational commitments critical to the network’s continuing success and viability,” said a Merit Street Media spokesperson.
The suit alleges that TBN, the world’s largest Christian broadcasting network, “abused its position as the controlling shareholder of Merit Street to improperly and unilaterally burden Merit Street with unsustainable debt”. While TBN originally committed to finance Merit Street Media's distribution and production services, the network later refused, the suit said.
“These failures by TBN were neither unintended nor inadvertent,” according to Merit Street Media’s lawsuit. “They were a conscious, intentional pattern of choices made with full awareness that the consequence of which was to sabotage and seal the fate of a new but already nationally acclaimed network.”
Merit Street Media filed a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas, reporting assets and liabilities in the US$100-500 million range.
TBN holds around 28.5% of the company’s equity, Merit Street Media said.
Merit Street Media launched in April 2024, following the end of McGraw’s talk show Dr. Phil in 2023. The company had also planned to add podcasting and web content, as well as both subscription and advertising-based streaming.
Related content
