National Videotex Network, or NVN for short, was founded in 1992 as an information-based online service a la Prodigy. Its original interface, as seen in a mid-1992 PC Magazine advertisement, looked like a Prodigy knockoff. After a while, NVN decided to drop the graphics and go all-ASCII, similar to the GEnie online service.

NVN's "glory days" were in the Summer of 1993, when Prodigy decided to abandon its flat-rate pricing structure for an hourly rate. P* subscribers were outraged, and dozens of users jumped over to NVN because of its attractive low cost and simple message boards. However, NVN's parent company U.S. Videotel hadn't made any money from its surge in subscribers. In mid-1994 NVN closed its doors for good because of price increases and AOL's new-found popularity (thanks to its easy-to-use menus and affordable cost at the time).

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