While a legal fight over his last media venture continues, Dr. Phil McGraw has locked in a carriage deal that will help his next one reach potential viewers.
Envoy TV, a cable and streaming outlet that McGraw announced in July — two weeks after his Merit Street Media filed for bankruptcy protection and sued its distribution partner, Trinity Broadcasting — has signed a distribution deal with Charter Communications. The agreement will bring Envoy TV to Charter’s video customers, including in big markets New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas-Fort Worth, the latter of which is McGraw’s and Envoy’s home base.
“I’m thrilled to be putting on the Charter team jersey and launching our new flagship Envoy TV network with my friends at the nation’s leading cable and broadband provider,” said McGraw in a statement. “Their dedication to relentless innovation makes Charter the perfect launchpad for Envoy TV’s ‘particivision’ approach in immersively entertaining, informing and impacting national audiences. I can’t wait to get started.”
Like Merit Street, Envoy will feature a mix of McGraw-hosted programs — both original and from the library of his former syndicated talk show — and contributions from comedian and TV host Steve Harvey. The “particivision” bit from McGraw’s quote involves an element in the Envoy TV app where users can upload their own content, some of which may be shared on the network’s national feed.
Charter had about 12.6 million video customers as of the second quarter of this year through its Spectrum cable operation.
Meanwhile, a bankruptcy trial over Merit Street’s Chapter 11 filing is ongoing in a Dallas court. Trinity, a Christian broadcaster that agreed to distribute Merit TV beginning in early 2024, countersued Merit Street Media after the bankruptcy filing, saying McGraw failed to deliver on viewership (Merit Street typically averaged under 100,000 viewers per day) and ad revenue targets.
Testifying in the trial in September, McGraw said he “capitulated” to the Chapter 11 filing and claimed that if Trinity “stayed in long enough, it would have been the best investment they ever made.”
“Dr. Phil is a leading and iconic voice in television with a large fan base and bringing his network to our lineup further expands the entertainment choices available to Spectrum customers at an exceptional value,” said Tom Montemagno, executive vp programming acquisition for Charter.
