Dr. Phil McGraw and his upstart TV network, Merit Street Media, is poised to launch
on Trinity Broadcasting Network on February 26, 2024, Merit Street said Wednesday. 

TBN, which owns more than 30 TV stations and has carriage on several large cable and satellite providers, including DirecTV and Dish Network, will serve as a launch pad for Merit Street’s programming. Merit Street also plans to make its content available via free, ad-supported streaming (FAST) channels and other digital and social media platforms. 

Merit Street will offer four hours of original primetime content, anchored by Dr. Phil Primetime, starring McGraw. Dr. Phil Primetime is expected to be similar in format to McGraw’s daytime talk show, Dr. Phil, which aired for 21 years and was distributed by CBS Media Ventures. Merit Street’s primetime also will include one hour of live news. 

Additional programming, which Merit Street said would be announced at a later date, will include true crime, family-friendly shows and familiar TV personalities. Content will be available free over the air as well as on-demand. Merit Street already has launched its website and accompanying social handles. 

“We are thrilled to embark on this groundbreaking journey by creating a network that is not only widely accessible but also a hub for diverse, engaging content,” said Joel Cheatwood, chief operating officer of Merit Street Media, in a statement. “With our commitment to delivering high-quality programming across multiple platforms, we anticipate Merit Street will be a trailblazer among networks.”

Merit Street, which is based in Dallas, was first announced in early November.

Jan Crouch, co-founder with her husband, Paul Crouch, of religious broadcaster Trinity Broadcast Network, died on Tuesday at age 78 after suffering a stroke on May 25, TBN said in a statement from the Crouch family that praised her as a television figure who helped launch and expand TBN and said that "to thousands of orphans around the world, and those orphaned in spirit, she was Momma Jan, quick with a smile, a gift, and a word of encouragement."

Viewers of TBN, which began as a single station in Orange County, California, in May 1973, knew her from hosting and producing such shows as Praise The Lord, which was the network's signature program and the one it launched with. Today TBN, overseen by their son, Matthew, has more than 30 global networks and more than 20,000 television affiliates, according to TBN. The newest TBN outlet, Hillsong Channel, a collaboration with Hillsong Church, launches tomorrow (June 1).

Jan Crouch was the daughter of Pentecostal ministers -- her father helped found what is now Southeastern University in Lakeland, Fla. -- who met Paul Crouch when she was a student at Evangel College in Springfield, Mo., according to a biography published as part of a 40th anniversary special in Multichannel News. They were married in 1957. She formed the Smile of a Child Foundation humanitarian relief organization in 2005. Paul Crouch senior -- their son Paul Jr. is no longer affiliated with TBN -- died in 2013.