Phil McGraw’s “Merry Street Media” is in bankruptcy court and at the same time appeals to his distribution partner Trinity Broadcasting for a breach of the contract, which, according to the Company, has led to Chapter 11. However, the signs that the 15 -month -old network fought was well against the Merit Street, July 2. Bankruptcy cases.
In his claim, Merit Street says Trinity Broadcasting, known for its Christian programming, and with the distribution network that has reached about 65 million houses in the US forced its network, Merit TV, to expensive third -party distribution offers, rather than use For programs, among other questions. The McGraw itself has granted the Merit Street loan for a bridge loan to cover some ongoing operations, but Merit Street unsafe finances have made the external capital a capital fastening.
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Several attempts to reach the Trinity broadcast to comment were unsuccessful.
However, before the bankruptcy filing, there were several indicators that had a rocky beginning of her life – even a delayed dubious idea of launching a linear TV company at a time when the broadcast is the default option for the largest part of the audience. And even the linear part of the Merit Street offer TV (which also includes a quick channel and program for mobile) was not completely locked: the channel is accessible through the air (though often in digital subchann) in many basic markets and is available for some – but hardly all – cable and satellite providers. Comcast’s Xfinity Service, YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV wear it.
In the programming area, McGraw Dr. Phil Primem There is a Merit TV sample show, but it also featured a “morning and evening” news broadcast and a handful of original shows, including those hosted by Nancy Grace and former Bachelor’s Host Chris Harrison. Merit Street has also announced an agreement with the Professional Bull Riders to hold its events that began in 2024. In July By October PBR elected its programming from Merit TV, saying that the network had not yet had to pay taxes. Both sides are arbitration in dispute. (PBR passed to sign rights agreement with Fox Nation, Fox News Broadcasting Platform.)
More recently, the evening’s news broadcast has been abolished for the morning performance and direct hourly updates in other parts of the day. After the bankruptcy proceedings have been submitted, all the shows – including Dr. Phil Primem – You stopped production by leaving Merit TV as a Zombie channel. The day is completed by various MCGRAW programs and several repetitions. The last possible broadcast of Morning TV program news is from July 1st.
On the digital side, the Merit TV YouTube channel has less than 90,000 subscribers, and while a handful of videos have a million or more views (based on Youtube 30 seconds qualification), the highest of the last three months has only 40,000.
The Merit TV also provided headlines, not particularly positive, to add MCGRAW to ice agents into raids in the early days of Donald Trump’s Second Presidential Administration. In the segments shown on Merit TV, Border Caar Tom Homan says raids have shown problems with so -called temple cities, which MCGRAW (and Merit newspaper compromises) seem to be valued at the nominal value. In 2024 The MCGraw campaign also interviewed a short one times.
Merit TV has never reached a wide audience – PrimeMtime in 2024. On average, it made up 27,000 viewers and took 130th place between broadcast and cable stores. The company was distinguished by its January performance (though without any detailed numbers), noting that Meem TV had risen to 65th in a month. This would have meant an average low -six -figure audience based on 2024. According to the data, there was also the Merit TV peak: by 2025. In the second quarter, its audience decreased to just 17,000 primary viewers.
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