Dr. Phil Loses Merit Street Media Court Case; Files Appeal Against Ruling To Liquidate Company
on Oct 30, 2025
Dr. Phil Had Allegedly Wrongfully Filed For Bankruptcy
Dr. Phil McGraw, through his Peteski Productions, is appealing a ruling made in federal court on October 28 which stipulates that the famed television psychologist’s 2024 startup venture, Merit Street Media, be liquidated.
In July, Merit Street — which produced and aired Dr. Phil Primetime, the latest iteration of the long-running CBS show Dr. Phil — had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
However, at a hearing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, the judge ruled that the case would be converted from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 liquidation.
This ruling came as the judge determined the liquidation of Merit Street Media would be beneficial to all creditors amid allegations Dr. Phil had devised a plan to file for bankruptcy to open the door for his next media venture, Envoy TV.
Creditors included Trinity Broadcasting Network and Professional Bull Riders, the latter of which was to begin airing its sporting events on Merit TV.
The Allegations Against Dr. Phil
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Trinity Broadcasting Network had a 10-year deal, amounting to $500 million, with Dr. Phil’s Merit Street Media.
Trinity Broadcasting Network claims “it spent over $100 million through its own services as well as offering loans to Merit Street” prior to Dr. Phil having Merit Street file for bankruptcy in July of this year.
Further, Trinity Broadcasting says it was spending $13 million each month on production efforts, alleging Dr. Phil did not create “a single episode” as part of its contract seeking shows in a 90-minute format, Variety reports.
Dr. Phil and his legal team reportedly rejected this allegation, claiming there were 214 episodes produced, with millions of viewers.
However, The Hollywood Reporter notes there were, on average, 27,000 viewers of Merit Street in 2024, with notable spikes in viewership exceeding 100,000.
The filing for bankruptcy came just over a year after the first Dr. Phil Primetime broadcast, with the program seeing notable guests such as President Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and even gaining inside access with ICE.
As outlined by Variety, as early as August of 2024, Dr. Phil was allegedly seeking to have his stock ownership of Merit Street increased from 30% to 70%, and this was accomplished as Trinity Broadcasting Network found this shift agreeable.
Through this, Trinity Broadcasting went from a 70% share to a 30% share.
Dr. Phil’s Peteski Productions took on the 70% control of the joint-venture, with Trinity Broadcasting Network writing in its lawsuit that Dr. Phil sought to “reduce TBN to nothing more than ‘a passive minority investor role’ in Merit Street.”
The bankruptcy filing, Trinity Broadcasting alleges, was made one day prior to Dr. Phil starting his latest company, Envoy Media Company.
Judge Everett said at the October 28 hearing that he had “never seen a case” akin to Merit Street Media’s, claiming that Dr. Phil intended to collect the assets of Main Street by creating a new company, Envoy Media, with Peteski Productions positioned to collect and Dr. Phil “named as the sole director of Merit.”
By making Trinity Broadcasting a “non-controlling shareholder” of Merit Street, evidence presented in court alleges this was done to “wipe out” claims by Trinity Broadcasting against Merit.
This would allow for Dr. Phil to pay back “favored creditors” rather than all creditors, including those allegedly perceived to be “unfavored” by Dr. Phil, namely Trinity Broadcasting.
Similarly, this was allegedly being done with Professional Bull Riders as well, which Variety reports has a $181 million claim against Merit for not being compensated.
Professional Bull Riders terminated its contract with Merit in November of 2014.
Speaking to Variety on the court ruling to liquidate Merit Street, Professional Bull Riders said:
“Dr. Phil’s Merit Street Media reneged on its agreement with PBR after just five months for no valid reason, and then Dr. Phil attempted to skirt obligations a second time through a bankruptcy scheme the court called an ‘anomaly.’ We’re grateful they did not allow it. We look forward to continuing this process, which thanks to today’s ruling, will be overseen by an impartial trustee, to recover what we’re owed by Dr. Phil and his company.”
Evidence of this “bankruptcy scheme” was reportedly presented to the court in the form of deleted text messages allegedly sent by Dr. Phil.
Dr. Phil Files An Appeal
With the October 28 ruling to liquidate Merit Street, Dr. Phil and his Peteski Productions are set to appeal the decision to convert the case to a Chapter 7 instead of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.
Speaking to Variety, a spokesperson with Peteski Productions said of the ruling:
“We are filing an immediate appeal. We take great exception to the court’s improper assertions regarding the alleged destruction of evidence, which simply did not happen. We will not let this stand given all that Dr. Phil and Peteski Productions have done to protect Merit Street employees, distributors, and other interested parties and to resolve this unfortunate situation.”
Further, Peteski told Variety its perspective on the ruling, saying it was appealing as the “ruling found that Dr. Phil became the sole director of Merit Street long after the company became overwhelmed by debt thanks to Trinity Broadcasting’s mismanagement.”
Continuing, Peteski said, “Dr. Phil is proud of his efforts to help Merit Street through this process but is also pleased that he can now devote his time and energy to his new network, Envoy.”
If this ruling is not successfully appealed, Merit Street will be dissolved and its assets will be used to compensate creditors.
Earlier this month, Dr. Phil shared news of Envoy TV being picked up by Charter Communications:
This is a developing story.
