Psychic Friends Network
The Psychic Friends Network was a telephone psychic service operating in the United States in the 1990s. The company's infomercials were aired frequently on late night television.
[edit] 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.[1] 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.[2]
The infomercials became the most popular infomercial to date, and parodies and imitators soon followed.[3] The parent company, Inphomation, took in profits of over $100 million within the first few years of the Network's operation.[4] From 1992-1997, the Psychic Friends Network infomercials were named top infomercial of the year by the Jordan-Whitney Greensheet.[5] The company declared bankruptcy in 1998 due to poor business decisions and spiraling competition.[6] 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.[7]
Michael Lasky re-purchased the assets of the company, including the trademark. PFN is ready to re-launch, this time starring Vivica A. Fox as the new celebrity host, replacing Warwick.[8] The Psychic Friends Network has signed Walter Mercado to do a series of talk shows in both English and Spanish[9] and is launching a new website with a state-of-the-art billable audio/video chat system.[10]
[edit] References
- ^ Surowiecki, James. "What Psychic Friends Failed to Foresee". Slate. http://www.slate.com/id/2641/. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
- ^ Braxton, Greg (2004-09-27). "But there’s more!". The L.A. Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2004/sep/27/entertainment/et-braxton27. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
- ^ "Infomercial history highlights". usatoday.com. 2004-10-24. http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2004-10-24-infomercial-timeline_x.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
- ^ Harrison, David; De Marco, Donna (1998-02-13). "Lawsuits forecast Lasky's troubles". Baltimore Business Journal. http://baltimore.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/1998/02/16/story2.html. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
- ^ Dean, Mensah (1996-06-10). "Psychic pals predict wealth and prosperity". Insight on the News. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_/ai_18354527. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
- ^ Patalon, William. "Psychic Friends firm goes bankrupt Lasky's Inphomation Communication files for Chapter 11". Baltimore Sun. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1998-02-05/business/1998036093_1_psychic-friends-infomercial-bankruptcy. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
- ^ Atkinson, Bill. "MCI settles claim of psychic network". Baltimore Sun. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2004-11-20/business/0411200152_1_psychic-friends-mci-sweeney. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
- ^ http://perezhilton.com/2009-02-03-vivica-a-fox-is-not-a-psychic-friend
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRmNxqZWl-Q
- ^ PsychicFriendsNetwork.com
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