The legal drama swirling around Dr. Phil McGraw, his media ventures, and the faith-based powerhouse Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) has reached a fever pitch, with new court filings and allegations painting a picture of backroom maneuvering, financial intrigue, and a $500 million deal gone spectacularly awry. At the heart of the dispute is the collapse of a production and distribution agreement between Dr. Phil’s companies—Peteski Productions and Merit Street Media—and TBN, a deal that once promised to reshape the landscape of faith-oriented and talk television programming.
According to recent filings reported by Deadline and The Independent, TBN has accused Dr. Phil and his companies of orchestrating a deliberate scheme to sidestep creditors and shift valuable assets and staff to a new venture, Envoy Media, just as Merit Street Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The allegations, steeped in claims of discovery gamesmanship and strategic document withholding, have prompted TBN and its ally, Professional Bull Riders (PBR)—a TKO Group Holdings-owned sports league—to seek emergency court sanctions and a rescheduling of Dr. Phil’s deposition, originally set for August 28, 2025.
“We are again confronted with the same discovery failures the Court has already fully addressed,” TBN declared in its latest emergency relief filing, as quoted by Deadline. The broadcaster, represented by Foley & Lardner, argued that Peteski Productions had failed to produce all of Dr. Phil’s emails and text messages, as well as crucial documents related to Envoy Media, despite court orders and an impending deposition deadline. “Peteski’s same delay tactics persist. The pattern is so striking that it is more than mere déjà vu; it is a deliberate rerun, scripted by parties who have decided that the Court’s orders are optional guidance rather than binding directives.”
The stakes are high. TBN and PBR allege that the bankruptcy was not a matter of financial necessity but a calculated move to strip Merit Street Media of its value, leaving it a shell company with nothing but looping reruns. PBR, which had a four-year deal with Merit Street Media now terminated, claims it is owed over $180 million. In their filing, PBR’s attorneys stated, “The documents produced to date demonstrate that this bankruptcy was conceived as a scheme to divert the Debtor’s employees and intellectual property to Envoy, a competing business Dr. Phil founded the day before this case was filed, and leave the Debtor’s business as a shell with nothing more than a repeated loop of re-runs.”
Text messages and emails obtained during discovery have added fuel to the fire. As detailed in The Independent, Merit Street Media’s chief operating officer Joel Cheatwood discussed in texts with colleagues a plan to reduce the network’s operations to a skeletal playlist of existing programming, with no new productions or live news. Cheatwood wrote, “The current thinking, just approved by our lawyers and bankruptcy advisors, was to reduce the network’s business to ‘no live news, no new production of any kind. Just the playlist—8 hours that repeats—comprised of current programming.’” He further explained that a select group of employees would be left behind to maintain minimal operations, while others would transition to Envoy Media at the time of the bankruptcy filing.
In another message, Cheatwood noted that Dr. Phil would prefer “if somebody can just push play and be done with it…that would be perfect,” highlighting the intention to wind down Merit Street Media and shift focus to the new venture. The filings also reveal efforts to conceal these strategies by instructing staff to use personal emails and texts rather than company systems, with Cheatwood advising, “any communication involving timing of events, strategies, etc. we need to not use the merit street e-mail system. Use text instead.”
Such revelations have led TBN and PBR to accuse Dr. Phil and his companies of stonewalling the discovery process to avoid full and effective questioning in court. TBN’s emergency motion sought not only sanctions and attorneys’ fees but also a brief adjournment of the upcoming September 2 bankruptcy hearing and potentially a rescheduling of Dr. Phil’s deposition if the required documents were not promptly produced. “Mr. McGraw has delayed and restricted production of key documents directly relevant to his testimony, making it impossible to question him fully unless the deposition is moved,” TBN argued in court.
For their part, Dr. Phil’s representatives have pushed back hard against the allegations, calling them “salacious false claims” and asserting that they have provided “substantial and complete information through the pre-trial discovery process relating to the TBN and PBR claims.” A spokesperson for Peteski told Deadline, “This is nothing more than the continuation of a transparent and highly coordinated strategy of trying to leverage media interest in this case to damage the value of Merit Street Media through salacious false claims.” The spokesperson also accused TBN and PBR of a strategy “designed to increase the cost of this bankruptcy and starve it administratively,” noting that it has already led Merit Street Media’s counsel to seek to quit.
The legal battle has played out in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, with the court’s dockets as of August 27, 2025, showing no scheduled hearing on the emergency motion. Still, the tension remains palpable, with both sides preparing for a high-stakes hearing set for September 2-3, where Peteski has vowed to present evidence refuting the allegations.
Meanwhile, the broader context of the dispute sheds light on the volatile world of media partnerships and the challenges of launching new ventures in a competitive landscape. Merit Street Media, which branded itself as an “anti-woke” cable channel, launched with fanfare but quickly found itself mired in controversy and mounting debt. TBN, for its part, has accused Dr. Phil of creating a “false sense of urgency” to pressure the network into paying millions while failing to deliver on the promised returns.
As the legal wrangling continues, the case has come to symbolize the high financial and reputational risks involved when big personalities and even bigger wallets collide in the quest for media dominance. With both sides digging in and new revelations emerging from court filings and internal communications, the coming weeks promise more twists and a potentially dramatic showdown in court.
For now, all eyes are on Dallas, where the next chapter in this high-profile legal saga will unfold, offering a rare glimpse into the inner workings—and occasional dysfunction—of modern media empires.
