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 and in early 2012 launched a new state-of-the-art website.

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 online, 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] Public Symbol: PFNI. OTCQB

References