Less than two weeks after the sudden public collapse of one media startup, Phil McGraw is launching another.
The celebrity psychologist’s new venture, called ENVOY Media Company, was announced by McGraw on Monday. The media startup will include both a free, “interactive” phone app and a more traditional television channel that is expected launch later this month, according to a news release.
Content will include breaking news, commentary, entertainment and live sports, the release added.
“As always, my commitment and that of the Envoy network team is to focus on real people, facing real challenges, seeking real solutions,” McGraw said in a statement.
“By talking about things that matter to people who care, presenting facts, encouraging people to think critically, they can make up their own minds.”
McGraw is also partnering with one of the most recognizable faces in American broadcasting: comedian and game show host Steve Harvey, a longtime friend of McGraw’s.
Harvey, perhaps best known as the host of the popular television show “Family Feud,” will also develop and produce original content for the new platform, according to the release.
The nascent media company will operate out of a new, 5,000-square-foot broadcast center in North Texas, although the exact location of the center was not immediately clear.
Jerry Sharell, a representative for McGraw’s new company, declined The News’ request for more details, but said the media personality “is keeping extremely busy and has not stopped taping content for the new venture.”
The platform will also have access to thousands of hours of existing content from McGraw’s personal library, according the release, including some 3,800 hours of “Dr. Phil,” the daytime talk show that turned him into a household name.
It also plans to utilize AI for advertising and to customize user experience, as well as rely on “citizen journalists” — i.e. members of the general public who are not trained reporters — to “share news and stories from their communities,” according to the release.
McGraw’s announcement comes on the heels of the highly public meltdown of another recent North Texas media venture.
On July 2, Merit Street Media — a Fort Worth-based broadcast company that McGraw had founded in 2023 — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing hundreds of millions of dollars in financial liabilities to more than 200 creditors.
On the same day, the company filed a lawsuit against its business partner, the giant Christian broadcaster Trinity Broadcasting Network, alleging breach of contract.
The suit claimed that Trinity had reneged on various promises that wrongly cost Merit Street at least $96 million ― resulting in a litany of public-facing production and content problems, including teleprompters that blacked out during live shows and an unusable cell phone app.
“This lawsuit arises out of a sad but oft told story,” the suit says. “One side lived up to its commitments but the other … did not.”
On Thursday, Trinity filed a legal document that denied some claims but largely postponed the company’s full response until a later date. Merit Street’s Chapter 11 case is progressing in federal bankruptcy court.
Merit Street Media and Trinity did not respond to previous interview requests from The News.