{"id":25683,"date":"2025-09-16T20:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T20:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/25683\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T20:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T20:47:07","slug":"says-he-didnt-want-to-start-over-in-his-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/25683\/","title":{"rendered":"Says He Didn’t Want To “Start Over” In His Career"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDr. Phil<\/a>\u2018s desire to move his cratered Merit Street Media<\/a> into bankruptcy and continue his breach of contract lawsuit against ex-partners Trinity Broadcasting<\/a> Network looks to have become all about \u201cgood faith,\u201d in the words today of a federal judge. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTo suggest that Peteski or Dr McGraw\u2019s preferred course of action was this bankruptcy defies logic and reality,\u201d lawyer Charles Babcock told Judge Scott W. Everett at a hearing Tuesday of the \u201ctoxic\u201d state of affairs that quickly developed between TBN and MSN. \u201cDr McGraw just turned 75, he did not want to have to go and start all over again. In fact, he fought it for months and months and months.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBest known for his work over the years for Oprah<\/a> Winfrey, Jackson Walker LLP\u2019s Babcock added in court: \u201cHe tried everything he could to do to have his voice heard through Merit Street and not through a new entity, Envoy, which he\u2019s had to build from, from the ground up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLess than a day after MSM filed a creditors backed plan<\/a> for a sale of \u201cmedia assets\u201d and proposed \u201cGlobal Settlement,\u201d<\/a> attorneys like Babcock for Phil McGraw<\/a>\u2018s Peteski Productions. TBN, the creditors committee and others appeared Tuesday in Texas to argue over the Christian network\u2019s prayers to toss the matter out and halt the move to Chapter 11. Overseeing a hearing over the next few days, Judge Everett had to spend a lot of time today managing expectations, dissecting text messages and emails, and pulling the whole thing from spiraling into a so-called \u201cmini-trial\u201d over the potential settlement. <\/p>\n

\n\tAs well as seeking to have Dr. Phil\u2019s July suit and bankruptcy move<\/a> dismissed in summary judgement, the Matthew Crouch-led TBN in August countersued <\/a>the ICE raid joining TV shrink in the $500 million distribution deal that soured soon after it was unveiled last year.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere is another broadcast entity that\u2019s being formed so that Dr McGraw\u2019s voice is not silenced,\u201d Babcock asserted Tuesday of Envoy, which was formed just before the MSM Chapter 11 process began earlier this year. \u201cNow you can agree or disagree with his voice and what he says. A lot of people agree. A lot of people find it fascinating. A lot of people like to hear and watch and listen to him, but it is a voice, and TBN was in the process of silencing that voice by refusing to comply with its commitment for distribution and by taking the actions that it did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAmidst the minutiae\u00a0and machinations of the now busted MSN\/TBN deal, the \u201cbreaking bread\u201d of various executives on both sides, layoffs, \u201cgangster moves,\u201d stock swaps and ministry money moves, both sides have accused the other of brinkmanship \u2013 \u2013 especially in terms of discovery and depositions. <\/p>\n

\n\tThat carried over into today\u2019s hearing. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat we\u2019re talking about is corporate authority in bad faith,\u201d stated TBN lawyer Mark Moore to Judge Everett Tuesday as the session stretched into a second hour. \u201cYou\u2019ve now heard a little bit of a dance where Peteski wants to talk about its intent, why it did something, why Mr. McGraw did something, but at the same time, they want to distance themselves from the decision making of the debtor,\u201d the Dallas-based Foley & Lardner LLP partner added. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou can\u2019t have it both ways,\u201d Moore continued \u201cIf Mr. McGraw is the actor, then Mr. McGraw is the actor, and I\u2019m willing to accept that he was, because that\u2019s what I think happened,\u201d he went on to say to the judge. But you can\u2019t have it both ways in the scope of this proceeding \u2026 that\u2019s a side show. That\u2019s grandstanding, and it\u2019s a waste of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tReps for Peteski had no comment this afternoon on the ongoing hearing. TBN did not respond to request for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr. Phil\u2018s desire to move his cratered Merit Street Media into bankruptcy and continue his breach of contract…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[21699,93,61,60,21700,14036,21701,21702,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-25683","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-dr-phil","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-merit-street-media","13":"tag-oprah","14":"tag-phil-mcgraw","15":"tag-trinity-broadcasting","16":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}