Merit Street (Dr. Phil Cable Network).

[Big Rollo Smokes 324]

6 minutes ago, Megatron81 said:

His new network will be an epic fail just go away Dr. Phil no one wants to watch you 24/7.

You, and I, and others on this board may feel that way. But we can't speak for everyone else.

 

There is an audience Phil is trying to reach, and if that audience wants his content they will find it. Remember that we now live in an era of narrowcasting, not broadcasting.

 

Now, we can debate on whether this was a smart business move on McGraw's part, but that story will unfold in the long-term. But if you want him to go away, just don't watch.

Edited July 14, 2025 by Big Rollo Smokes

[NowBergen 924]

2 hours ago, Big Rollo Smokes said:

You, and I, and others on this board may feel that way. But we can't speak for everyone else.

 

There is an audience Phil is trying to reach, and if that audience wants his content they will find it. Remember that we now live in an era of narrowcasting, not broadcasting.

 

Now, we can debate on whether this was a smart business move on McGraw's part, but that story will unfold in the long-term. But if you want him to go away, just don't watch.

 

Based on the "audience" numbers for Merit Street, it does not seem many wanted to find him.  Some people just don't know how to read a room.  If he has money to burn, that's his problem.  

[ColtFromGulfcoast 869]

45 minutes ago, NowBergen said:

 

Based on the "audience" numbers for Merit Street, it does not seem many wanted to find him.  Some people just don't know how to read a room.  If he has money to burn, that's his problem.  

I tried giving the show a chance. Half an episode was enough for me.  This show was absolutely unnecessary. 

Edited July 14, 2025 by ColtFromGulfcoast

[nathannah 2792]

4 hours ago, Big Rollo Smokes said:

There is an audience Phil is trying to reach, and if that audience wants his content they will find it. Remember that we now live in an era of narrowcasting, not broadcasting.

 

Now, we can debate on whether this was a smart business move on McGraw's part, but that story will unfold in the long-term. But if you want him to go away, just don't watch.

Exactly this. He tried to expand from an hour talk show and apparently nobody wanted to subscribe to his channel (or give out their email address to stream it on the TBN website).

If someone wants to be the fool to part with their money to keep Dr. Phil afloat, they know exactly what they're doing at this point and that like most investments, it will likely turn out badly. We haven't heard the side of the creditors yet, and I'm sure they're not going to encourage people to trust him again.

[AmericanErrorist 267]

TBN is countersuing, claiming among other things that Dr. Phil Primetime isn't the continuation of the syndicated series that McGraw supposedly promised would air on the channel. (An interesting point, given that Primetime was much more politics-oriented than the lifestyle-focused syndie program; Wikipedia considers them separate shows.)

[Yankees4life 599]

I expect a settlement from TBN to come soon just to keep Dr. Phil away 

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

7 hours ago, Yankees4life said:

I expect a settlement from TBN to come soon just to keep Dr. Phil away 

 

Actually, I don't care for either network, so let the popcorn fireworks fly!

 

I'm curious to see how long this tit-for-tat battle lasts, knowing viewership for both networks is still pretty crap.

[Action Newsroom 1376]

On 8/30/2025 at 2:11 PM, Yankees4life said:

I expect a settlement from TBN to come soon just to keep Dr. Phil away 

It may happen. If talks progress well.

[tyrannical bastard 4678]

1 hour ago, Action Newsroom said:

It may happen. If talks progress well.

So Joel "If it bleeds it leads" Cheatwood is part of this mess?  Must have been after he was brainwashed by Fox News and Glenn Beck.

 

 

 

Edited September 3, 2025 by tyrannical bastard

[nathannah 2792]

According to Spectrum and my TiVo picking up its listings, the 'rebranded' Envoy is being added to their systems; it hasn't shown up yet as an active channel (and I've removed it because...eww). Right now it's all Dr. Phil and The Doctors repeats along with other specials, so unless he settles with TBN soon it's going to remain that (and a massive waste of money for both Dr. Phil and Spectrum subscribers). I also don't understand why he wouldn't wait until the bankruptcy hearing is over because this would definitely raise eyebrows with the court.

Edited October 1, 2025 by nathannah

[ATLNewsExpert 508]

On 7/14/2025 at 6:34 PM, ColtFromGulfcoast said:

I tried giving the show a chance. Half an episode was enough for me.  This show was absolutely unnecessary. 

Apologies for the bump, but I did watch a few episodes at first launch. At first, it was alright, had relevant discussions on topics like education and stuff (my school district was actually mentioned, had a former teacher on the show, and a statement) but soon it clearly became another political talking head.

[nathannah 2792]

A good rundown and summary of everything Merit/Envoy up to today, including transcript and evidence detail.

 

(Mods, please add "Envoy TV" to the title)

[ABC 7 Denver 1889]

6 hours ago, nathannah said:

A good rundown and summary of everything Merit/Envoy up to today, including transcript and evidence detail.

 

(Mods, please add "Envoy TV" to the title)

 

I was gonna come here to post this too! I love this analysis.

[AmericanErrorist 267]

6 hours ago, nathannah said:

A good rundown and summary of everything Merit/Envoy up to today, including transcript and evidence detail.

 

(Mods, please add "Envoy TV" to the title)

I'm not a fan YouTube video essays. A summary would be nice.

[Dave Lampstein 292]

11 hours ago, AmericanErrorist said:

I'm not a fan YouTube video essays. A summary would be nice.

 

Copy/paste the link into Google Gemini...

 

This is great, really well done. 

 

And yeah, Joel Cheatwood is kind of a slimeball. Glad to see that get some attention too. 

Edited December 1, 2025 by Dave Lampstein

[AmericanErrorist 267]

5 hours ago, Dave Lampstein said:

Copy/paste the link into Google Gemini...

I didn't know you could do that.

[Dave Lampstein 292]

59 minutes ago, AmericanErrorist said:

I didn't know you could do that.

Works great for cooking/recipe videos too.

 

That said, if you find the time, the full video was definitely worth the watch!

[NowBergen 924]

removed, mixed up the stations. Can't delete

 

Edited December 3, 2025 by NowBergen
Mixed up the stations

[mre29 1967]

2 hours ago, NowBergen said:

I have noticed that WRNN has flipped finally from running Merit St. reruns to being a shopping channel.  Whoopeee.  

 

One of those rare occasions when a station flipping to shopping is an improvement.

 

[Big Rollo Smokes 324]

9 hours ago, NowBergen said:

I have noticed that WRNN has flipped finally from running Merit St. reruns to being a shopping channel.  Whoopeee.  

WMBC-TV was the MeritTV outlet in the NYC market, but they flipped to Estrella TV about six weeks ago.

 

WRNN did not pick up MeritTV, to the best of my knowledge. 

[NowBergen 924]

2 hours ago, Big Rollo Smokes said:

WMBC-TV was the MeritTV outlet in the NYC market, but they flipped to Estrella TV about six weeks ago.

 

WRNN did not pick up MeritTV, to the best of my knowledge. 

 

oops, sorry about that.  The two are next to each other and pretty much just take up channel space on Optimum, and got them mixed up.  I did know they kept doing Merit St. repeats way past when everything came spiraling down.

[nathannah 2792]

I was searching through my guide for what sports were on today and apparently Envoy has found a sporting outfit that needs a TV home; the Team Boxing League, so that's airing this afternoon. Really funny to watch this on a channel whose star is all about conflict resolution, of course. 

[mre29 1967]

9 hours ago, nathannah said:

Really funny to watch this on a channel whose star is all about conflict resolution, of course. 

 

Money talks as loud as a punch in the face.

 

[tyrannical bastard 4678]

And I thought the Paul & Jan era of TBN was bad.....

Can someone show me somewhere in the bible where Trump was anointed by Jesus Christ himself, and that Christians love Dr. Phil, MMA, and whatever garbage TBN is trying to pass off as "Christianity?"

CBN is no better.  Newsmax2 is a diginet they carry on their stations.

[l_miro 245]

2 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

And I thought the Paul & Jan era of TBN was bad.....

Can someone show me somewhere in the bible where Trump was anointed by Jesus Christ himself, and that Christians love Dr. Phil, MMA, and whatever garbage TBN is trying to pass off as "Christianity?"

CBN is no better.  Newsmax2 is a diginet they carry on their stations.

 

wut? Who told you Christians don't or can't enjoy MMA? I personally do not, but some of the most prolific MMA, boxing, etc contact sports fighters are Eastern Orthodox Christians. Our priests get in on it, either as spectators, some known to train/practice contact sports, Serbia has several bishops who are karate black belts.