When we last checked in on how Ken Solomon was doing the news was relatively upbeat. You might recall back in April we mused about how his career was taking on a new path when he answered the clarion call of one Dr. Philip C. McGraw, taking on the full-time challenge of turning the one-time disciple of Oprah Winfrey into yet another talk show host who successfully launched a channel. On top of that, he was able to get out of Los Angeles and move to a far more open and less tax-laden state, with more than enough room to keep any equestrian-loving members of his family happy and content. For that alone, I’m envious.
But I’m even more supportive of people with strong track records in media getting second chances. As we explained in that piece, Ken provided me with a couple such lifelines at a point when I sorely needed them and when this industry was still willing and capable of giving them. I actually bought into the potential that he articulated during last spring’s upfronts for Merit Street Media, the fledgling channel McGraw was in the midst of rolling out. He boasted of an expansion of the array of content it was offering–primarily right-leaning news and information with McGraw front and center–into something broader and capable of attracting more different viewers and advertisers. One of the more intriguing items involved the Professional Bull Riders tour, which in the part of the world that Solomon now calls home is a far bigger deal than it may be where you reside. I’ve seen the ratings history relative to its secondary time slots on the likes of CBS and FOX sports networks, and they’re intriguing. And if I learned anything from my detached observations of the kind of viewers that passionately support networks and platforms with leanings that don’t fully align with mine, even they can’t exist purely on a diet of culture war rages.
Yet mere months later that game plan seems to have gone up in smoke, as we learned last week via THE INDEPENDENT’s Justin Baragona:
Text messages unveiled during discovery in the contentious legal battle involving Merit Street Media reveal executives of the Dr. Phil McGraw-led company attempting to conceal a bankruptcy “scheme” in order to shift assets and staff over to a new media venture, according to recent court filings.
A week after Trinity Broadcasting sued Merit Street and Dr. Phil for conducting a “years-long fraudulent scheme” in an effort to “fleece TBN” in a scuttled $500 million deal, the Christian broadcaster filed an emergency motion seeking sanctions against Dr. Phil’s production company Peteski Productions for failing to produce discovery material in Merit’s bankruptcy case.
TBN was joined in the motion by Professional Bull Riders, the TKO-owned sports league that claims Merit Street owes it $181 million after reneging on a four-year deal by failing to make payments. In its separate joinder filing, PBR included text messages from Merit Street’s chief operating officer Joel Cheatwood that it claims prove Merit Street and Dr. Phil orchestrated the bankruptcy as part of a plot to launch a new media company.
The documents produced to date demonstrate that this bankruptcy was conceived as a scheme to divert the Debtor’s employees and intellectual property to Envoy, a competing business Dr. Phil founded the day before this case was filed, and leave the Debtor’s business as a shell with nothing more than a repeated loop of re-runs,” PBR’s attorneys stated in its filing late Tuesday evening.
This latest flare-up in the dramatic legal drama comes less than two months after Merit Street filed for bankruptcy barely a year after the “anti-woke” cable channel launched, while simultaneously suing its distribution partner TBN for allegedly trying to “sabotage and seal the fate of a new but already nationally acclaimed network.”
It’s one thing to tick off an organization that preys on the fragile minds of uberbelievers with nonstop appeals for donations such as TBN. I’ve worked for Pat Robertson and studied that world, and let’s just say the gates of Heaven aren’t fully assured of opening their doors for the executives of denominational programming.
But when you’ve also crossed a group with the auspices of WME as partners who literally are responsible for recognizing bull when they see it, that makes for the kind of storyline that anyone with a FOX pedigree can attest was more often than not the holy grail.
Cheatwood is yet another Murdoch alum, plucked from the envious position of news director at the pioneering Miami FOX affiliate WSVN to take his talents FROM South Beach, inauspiciously beginning his national career with the ill-fated PERSONALITIES, a whitewashed companion piece for the rising star of A CURRENT AFFAIR which I was mandated to try and make work during my last days with the FOX station group. A neutered Hollywood-based magazine show that somehow thought Charlie Rose could be Maury Povich was, to put in mildly, DOA. Neither Cheatwood nor I made it to the next upfront–he at least was shrewd enough to hightail it back to Florida for an extended run with the most coveted non-O and O in FOX’s lineup. Subsequently, he found his way into larger markets and conservative media, including the pivot of Glenn Beck from mere contributor to platform mogul. If nothing else, that resume made him the perfect person to oversee content at Merit Street Media.
Which unfortunately has put him in the crosshairs of the most recent legal finagling that Baragona reported on:
Although TBN and PBR accuse Dr. Phil and his lawyers of intentionally blocking and delaying discovery, the bull-riding league highlighted in its Tuesday joinder filing that the text messages they have received involving Merit Street executives are highly revealing.
Just before Merit Street filed for bankruptcy, Cheatwood texted other Merit employees that “the current thinking, just approved by our lawyers and bankruptcy advisors,” was to reduce the network’s business to “no live news, no new production of any kind. Just the playlist—8 hours that repeats—comprised of current programming.”
Adding that Dr. Phil would like it “if somebody can just push play and be done with it…that would be perfect,” Cheatwood went on to explain that a small group of Merit employees would be “left behind” to carry out the network’s operations. Meanwhile, he noted that they “intend to standup newco [i.e.,Envoy] immediately after the filing so the ‘chosen’ will resign MSM and join newco at the time.”
Cheatwood also noted that a small group of staffers would technically remain employees with Merit as long as it “was operating,” but they would simultaneously sign “consulting agreement[s]” with Envoy. “The way this will probably work is once MSM is wound down there will be an auction of assets and newco will bid to buy the MSM program library,” he texted.
In the ensuing weeks, Cheatwood stated that he and Merit Street Chief Executive Officer Ken Solomon had to “be very careful with our public activities associated with Envoy since we are still full and active employees” of Merit, adding that any “[a]ctivities that would indicate we are more focused on Envoy could be problematic if called into question.” He also said in one text about the “dilemma” he faced that he’d “been advised not to do anything to indicate an attachment to Envoy,” since he was the lone remaining officer at Merit.
Yeah, they’ve got some Third World problems. But at least he isn’t dealing with a double dose of tsurris the way Solomon is, as SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL’s Rob Schaefer disclosed late last month:
Solomon is suing the network, Sinclair Broadcast Group and multiple Sinclair executives in the state of California, with claims including wrongful termination in violation of public policy, breach of contract and defamation, according to a complaint filed in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles on Friday.
Among the allegations in the complaint, Solomon, who was fired by Sinclair last September, alleges Sinclair devised pretextual reasons to terminate his employment, failed to pay him all final wages (including earned equity options), and that Sinclair executives including CEO Chris Ripley and COO & President/Local Media Rob Weisbord made disparaging remarks about him upon his termination. (Ripley, Weisbord and current Tennis Channel President Bill Simon are named as defendants in the suit.) Tennis Channel declined to comment, and Sinclair did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the complaint, Solomon was directed by Sinclair Chairman David Smith to lead a sale process of Tennis Channel in 2023, which required consistent travel and relinquishing day-to-day management of the network to Simon, who was then Tennis Channel’s CFO & COO. Solomon claims his efforts resulted in multiple purchase offers, including some that valued Tennis Channel at more than $1B, but that those offers were rejected by Smith.
Solomon further alleged that in 2024, Ripley demanded he be present at Tennis Channel headquarters in California five days per week — “contrary to Smith’s earlier directive” — and provide “return-on-investment justification” for upcoming travel. Solomon also alleges Sinclair requested approved expense reports from his assistant “with the hopes of finding potential financial misconduct,” by Solomon.
As to why Solomon would choose to overstuff his plate with this at such a busy time, AWFUL ANNOUNCING’s Drew Lerner offered this rationale:
Recent reports have indicated that Tennis Channel could, again, be ripe for a transaction. Sinclair is reportedly exploring a split or spinoff of its “ventures” division which includes Tennis Channel. Should such a restructuring occur, Tennis Channel would be an attractive asset to any number of potential suitors. Solomon’s lawsuit, and the purported valuations of Tennis Channel cited within it, are further evidence that the network, and its extensive suite of live tennis rights, would be of significant value to companies trying to make live sports part of their portfolio.
Given the names and alliances involved in both of these storylines, it’s fair to assume that those who would otherwise go down rabbit holes might find some intrigue in how this all unfolds. As soon as 9 AM CDT this morning in Dallas the next chapter is scheduled to go down when the Honorary Scott W. Everett will preside over the (m)atter of a (m)otion for summary judgment filed by Plaintiff Merit Street Media, Inc. In case you missed the memo, here it is.
It all sounds like a particularly hectic schedule for all involved, especially for Solomon. But if anyone can handle it, someone who his friends adoringly call “The Blur” seems to be capable of handling it.
As for Dr. Phil, he looks like he might need some help keeping pace. He may want to think about further diversification with something he actually can deliver upon. I hear COURT TV’s looking for stuff.
Until next time…