Dr. Phil’s Anti-Woke Television Network Files For Bankruptcy, Sues Christian Trinity Broadcasting Network

Merit Street Media, the cable news network founded by reality television star Dr. Phil McGraw, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday and filed a lawsuit accusing its business partner of losing the network more than $100 million.

The network, which was launched by McGraw in an effort to counter the “cultural ‘woke’ assault,” filed for bankruptcy in the Northern District of Texas, reporting “assets and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million,” according to CBS News.

Merit Street Media is also suing its broadcast partner, the Christian Trinity Broadcasting Network, which partnered with McGraw in December 2023 to distribute the network.

“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,” a Merit Street Media spokesperson told CBS in a statement. “The suit is part of a restructuring proceeding also initiated by MSM.”

The lawsuit specifically accuses Trinity Broadcasting Network of having “abused its position as the controlling shareholder,” forcing Merit Street Media to “pay or incur obligations to third parties in excess of $100 million.”

“These failures by TBN were neither unintended nor inadvertent,” claims 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.”

Launching Merit Street Media in 2023, McGraw vowed that the network would “be a resource of information and strategies to fight for America and its families, which are under a cultural ‘woke’ assault as never before.”

“I love this country and I believe family is the backbone of our society,” he said. “Together we are going to stand strong and fight for the very soul and sanity of America and get things that matter back on track.”

Multiple staffers were unexpectedly laid off at Merit Street Media in August last year, with one new hire let go before he was even able to start his first day on the job.

Just a few months before, McGraw conducted a high-profile interview with President Donald Trump on the network, with Trump thanking McGraw for the “psychological interview” and remarking, “Maybe I could use a psychiatrist.”

The lineup for Merit Street Media currently boasts McGraw, along with comedian and television host Steve Harvey, survival expert Bear Grylls, and former host of The Bachelor Chris Harrison.