Dr. Phil Cable TV Company Files for Bankruptcy, Files TBN Lawsuit

Dr. Phil McGraw’s Merit Street Media has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — and the TV talk-show host’s company is suing former partner Trinity Broadcasting Network, alleging breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.

Merit Street filed for bankruptcy and the related lawsuit naming TBN as a defendant with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Northern District of Texas on Wednesday (July 2). The complaint alleges that TBN, which was Merit Street’s broadcast partner, reneged on its obligations and instead “abused its position as the controlling shareholder.” As a result, Merit Street claims in the lawsuit, it was forced to “pay or incur obligations to third parties in excess of $100 million.”

“These failures by TBN were neither unintended nor inadvertent,” Merit Street says in the 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.”

The “most egregious impact is TBN’s conscious and knowing choice to cause Merit Street to lose its national distribution by withholding distribution payments despite repeatedly acknowledging those distribution payments were 100% TBN’s sole responsibility,” Merit Street said in the lawsuit. “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.”

In addition, according to Merit Street’s lawsuit, TBN’s production services were “comically dysfunctional. Although it promised the equivalent of the professional facilities and services that Dr. Phil had long relied on when producing his show in Los Angeles for CBS, the supposed ‘first class’ services TBN promised under the Joint Venture Agreement were nothing of the sort. TBN provided screens and teleprompters that blacked out during live shows, an incomplete control room operating out of a truck, an unusable cell phone app for viewers, and amateur video editing software. Merit Street staff often could not even make phone calls in the studio due to poor cell coverage.”

A copy of the complaint is at this link. In its bankruptcy filing, Merit Street reported assets and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million.

Reps for TBN did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

TBN, based in Forth Worth, Texas, calls itself “the largest Christian Television Network in the world committed to sending the message of hope and grace of Jesus to the world via live streaming.”

In August 2024, Merit Street laid off 38 employees, more than one-third of its staff, and last month placed an additional 40 staffers on “summer hiatus,” WFAA reported.

Dr. Phil rose to fame as a guest on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show before launching his own daytime show with the backing of Winfrey’s Harpo Productions. He officially launched Merit Street Media in April 2024. At launch, Merit Street’s TV network reached more than 80 million homes, with a programming lineup anchored by the “Dr. Phil Primetime” talk show, according to the company. Merit Street describes itself as “a premier multi-platform destination media brand spearheaded by Dr. Phil McGraw, the esteemed best-selling author and award-winning television host.”

Also named in Merit Street’s lawsuit as a defendant is TCT Ministries, another Christian broadcaster. (TCT Ministries did not respond to a request for comment.) TCT TV says it is “your home for inspiring Bible teaching, music, news, specials, and more. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is shared over-the-air, via cable and satellite, and on demand on your favorite devices.” The company is based in Marion, Illinois.

According to Merit Street’s complaint, TBN caused CrossSeed, “a party with whom TBN is closely connected,” to make a $25 million loan to Merit Street. CrossSeed’s directors include TBN president and CEO Matthew Crouch and former TBN chief business officer Frank Amedia, according to the Merit Street suit. “CrossSeed then assigned that note to another associated party, TCT, on March 5, 2025,” Merit Street’s complaint says.

“TCT perfected the security interest granted pursuant to the note on May 27, 2025. However, the transfer of the security interest to TCT is an avoidable preference because perfection occurred more than 30 days after CrossSeed transferred the note to it and within 90 days of the date Merit Street filed its petition,” Merit Street said in the lawsuit. “Moreover, all of TBN and TCT’s obligations should be equitably subordinated to Merit Street’s other creditors due to TBN’s gross misconduct.”