History
The Psychic Friends Network, was launched in 1991, with an infomercial, and a brand new state-of-the-art phone system, that took the calls and forwarded them to the psychics who were working at home. This technology allowed the customers to build personal relationships with individual psychics. Presented in talk show-like format and hosted by singer Dionne Warwick and psychic Linda Georgian, each installment featured a 1-900 number for viewers to call to consult a psychic at the rate of $3.99 per minute. The program also featured reenactments of callers' stories and appearances by daytime soap opera stars.
The infomercials became the most popular infomercial to date, and parodies and imitators soon followed. The parent company, Inphomation, took in profits of over $100 million within the first few years of the Network's operation. From 1992-1997, the Psychic Friends Network infomercials were named top infomercial of the year by the Jordan-Whitney Greensheet. The company declared bankruptcy in 1998 due to poor business decisions and spiraling competition. In 2001, the bankruptcy trustees for the Psychic Friends Network sued MCI WorldCom Network Services Inc for mismanagement of billing and collections and won a judgement of $4.1 million dollars in 2004.
Michael Lasky re-purchased the assets of the company, including the trademark. PFN later re-launched online, this time starring Vivica A. Fox as the new celebrity host, replacing Warwick. The Psychic Friends Network has signed Walter Mercado to do a series of talk shows in both English and Spanish and is launching a new website with a state-of-the-art billable audio/video chat system. Public Symbol: PFNI. OTCQB
Read more about this topic: Psychic Friends Network
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