Merit Street Media (MSM), owned by Phil McGraw or better known as “Dr. Phil,” has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company was launched in 2023 but was already showing signs of struggling when it cut a third of its staff in August 2024. The company recently laid off 40 workers several weeks ago before finally filing. At the time of its launch, McGraw expressed his desire to have the company fight for America. “Merit Street Media will 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. 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,” said McGraw at the time. The show’s programming included such well-known personalities as Bear Grylls, Nancy Grace, and Dr. Phil himself.

Along with the bankruptcy filing, the company also filed a lawsuit against Christian network Trinity Broadcasting of Texas Inc. (TBN), alleging “TBN formed Merit Street as a joint venture and contractually committed to provide valuable services to the joint venture. But TBN then reneged on its obligations and abused its position as the controlling shareholder of Merit Street to improperly and unilaterally burden Merit Street with unsustainable debt, doing so either without notice or in direct violation of promises not to do so.” The company alleges decisions from TBN that negatively impacted MSM were intentional. “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,” MSM alleged. MSM accused TBN of “shoddy production services” that included blackouts during live tapings of Dr. Phil episodes.

The suit is part of MSM’s restructuring, according to spokesperson who spoke with CBS. “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. The suit is part of a restructuring proceeding also initiated by MSM,” the spokesperson said. TBN has faced accusations of mismanagement in the past. In 2012, Brittany B. Koper, granddaughter of TBN founders Paul and Janice Crouch, accused the network of taking advantage of $50 million of charitable assets and misappropriating assets. In 2017, Jan Crouch was found liable for an incident where here granddaughter, Carra Crouch, was allegedly molested and raped while they were attending a telethon. Carra was awarded $2 million. MSM is suing TBN for an unspecified amount and legal fees.