Dr. Phil’s Fort Worth-based JV Merit Street Media filed for Chapter 11 on Wednesday, simultaneously suing business partner Trinity Broadcasting for breach of contract that it claims destroyed its new television network and pushed it into bankruptcy.The TV personality’s high-rated daytime Dr. Phil show ended a 21-year run after the 2022-23 season although it lived on in syndication. The suit centers around his latest venture, Merit Street Media, a JV of McGraw’s Peteski Productions and Trinity Broadcasting Group. The latter was founded by American televangelist Paul Crouch and his wife Jan in 1973 and is currently overseen by president and CEO Matthew Crouch. The network has had carriage on over-the-air broadcast television as well as multichannel platforms and streaming.A Merit Street spokesperson said, “Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is being sued by Merit Street Media (MSM) for failing to provide clearly agreed-upon national distribution and other significant foundational commitments critical to the network’s continuing success and viability. The suit is part of a restructuring proceeding also initiated by MSM.”A spokesperson for TBN did not immediately return a request for comment.The JV called for Peteski to provide Merit Street with certain new original episodes of the Dr. Phil show, as well as primetime specials to air on the new TV network. For its part, TBN agreed to provide, at no cost to Merit Street, carriage to distribute Dr. Phil’s shows and specials to a nationwide audience … in exchange for which TBN would have a controlling equity interest in the network,” according to the lawsuit.TBN also agreed to provide all “first class quality” services necessary to produce Dr. Phil’s shows and primetime specials, the suit said.“In short, the deal was simple and straightforward” — McGraw/Peteski contributed content, while TBN contributed access to a distribution network to air Dr. Phil’s content along with the production services to support the creation of that content,” according to the lawsuit.Shortly after Merit Street was formed, however, TBN reneged, Merit claimed. It “began to abuse its power as a controlling shareholder to advance its own interests and those of its CEO Matthew Crouch, while causing Merit Street to assume responsibility of TBN’s obligations under the Joint Venture Agreement, and to otherwise enrich itself at Merit Street’s expense. The suit accuses TBN of “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 which has, since its launch in April of 2024, delivered its viewers with cutting edge reports, interviews, and in-depth analysis of national importance. This fresh voice on the national stage is inexorably going dark, going off the air because TBN has refused to honor its commitment to transfer its must carry rights and thereby provide national distribution for the network—Merit Street.”Simply put, as a result of TBN’s conduct, “Merit Street has nowhere to send its broadcast signal and nowhere to air its programming no matter how great it may be.”Since its launch last year, Merit Street has featured McGraw’s interview with Donald Trump following his conviction on New York state charges, as well as the host’s embed with federal immigration agents back in January.Merit Street says that it will continue to broadcast shows as long as it can, but it will be library programming.The filing in United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas estimated Merit Street’s assets at $100-$500 million and liabilities in the same range. Creditors, from 200-999, included distributors like DirecTV and Nexstar and rating agency Nielsen.Merit Street is seeking damages, recoupment of legal costs, and other remedies.
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