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 and in 2012 launched a website.
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History
The Psychic Friends Network was launched in 1991, with an infomercial, and a circuit breaker, 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 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 in 2004.
Mark Edward gave an insider's account of the organization's business model and dealing with clients in his 2012 book, Psychic Blues, describing it as "a psychic sweatshop".
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.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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