In a case of cautious what you pray for, Phil McGraw is having a not-so-great week.
On Monday, the person Oprah launched us to years in the past as Dr. Phil started to attempt to halt the month previous Chapter 11 proceedings of his short-lived Advantage Avenue Media after discovering the price of going bankrupt too costly, actually. As we speak, as a federal choose tried to provide you with an answer for the monetary potholes, Dr. Phil and his Peteski Productions discovered themselves countersued by Trinity Broadcasting for a $500 million manufacturing and distribution deal that went to Hell in a handbasket.
“The response to TBN legitimately and lawfully defending itself from Peteski and McGraw’s bad-faith assaults is to cry foul as a result of they don’t just like the true info that they themselves now regretfully put at problem earlier than this Court docket, revealing McGraw’s true illicit intent and wrongful conduct which he self-described as a ‘gangster transfer’ and as ’Eleventh-hour poker,’” states the motion Tuesday by the faith-based TV community in federal court docket in Texas.
“TBN now asserts its affirmative claims in opposition to Peteski and McGraw associated to the years-long fraudulent scheme that they developed and executed to fleece TBN, a not-for-profit company, to complement McGraw, his associates and associates,” Fort Price-set TSN and their Foley & Lardner LLP attorneys added. “TBN is assured that the reality will set it free, and lead to Peteski and McGraw being held accountable for his or her reprehensible conduct.”
To place it merely, TBN claims that Donald Trump’s pal and ICE adjoining Dr. Phil created “a false sense of urgency’ and lied to them about viewership, advert income, library possession, and manufacturing prices in early 2023 to safe a quick, profitable settlement. “Amongst different issues, McGraw falsely represented to TBN that CBS would pay him $75 million per yr to resume his contract and TBN should (1) instantly signal some type of binding settlement with Peteski and (2) instantly pay him $20 million as a gesture of fine religion to indicate TBN’s means to pay and dedication to the deal,” the Christian firm’s attorneys declare. “Something much less, McGraw claimed, could be a ‘deal killer.’ TBN relied on McGraw’s false assurances and proceeded with the requested urgency.”
Evidently, the grand plans for cost-cutting by relocating the one-time medical psychologist’s present and workforce to the Lone Star state, the thousands and thousands invested for multi-platform and streaming success didn’t fairly pan out for the 52-year-old TBN and Dr. Phil.
They launched the three way partnership in April 2024 and barely saved it going for a yr.
“This recent voice on the nationwide stage is inexorably going darkish, going off the air as a result of TBN has refused to honor its dedication to switch its must-carry rights and thereby present nationwide distribution for the community,” Advantage Avenue cautioned in its personal breach of contract go well with of early July. “Advantage Avenue has nowhere to ship its broadcast sign and nowhere to air its programming irrespective of how nice it could be.”
Reps for UTA-signed Dr. Phil, who had a 21-year run on CBS that led to 2023, didn’t reply to Deadline’s request for touch upon what went down in court docket dockets on Tuesday.
Of their countersuit, TBN needs the judicial system to provide them a mixture of damages, injunctions, and inventory modification deal enforcement – as a result of the Lord giveth, and the Lord definitely taketh away.
