Match.com adds telephone 'speed dating'

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LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Internet dating company Match.com this week announced a new service that marries "speed dating," the latest dating trend, with old school telephone technology.

Dallas-based Match.com says its new Online SpeedMatching service is the newest way for "singles to easily meet and talk to a series of dates without having to leave the house."

Match.com, a unit of InterActiveCorp, already hosts off-line SpeedMatching events in which members pay $25 to go on as many as 25 "mini-dates" in one evening.

With the new online service, singles schedule speed-dating sessions in which they can have four to eight, four-minute "get to know you" telephone conversations while gazing at a photo of their "dates" on a computer screen.

After each "date" the participants decide whether to have future contact, then they view the profile of the next date and repeat the process.

Match.com now offers Online SpeedMatching in 47 cities and plans to expand to 70 cities in the United States and abroad by March.

A monthly subscription for an unlimited number of online/telephone speed dates costs $24.95 or $14.95 for current Match.com subscribers.

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