Our “friends” Verisign.com put out a press release today (don’t worry they didn’t anounce another price increase, this time) touting their .tv extension and how it is being used by Political Blogs and sites.
Here is the release (the part that got me to gag I put in bold):
Internet-savvy voters are turning off their TV sets and heading online for video content that is increasingly shaping their political views. As part of a growing reliance on video-rich Web destinations for more than just entertainment, political junkies are using the Internet to view and share the speeches, debates, campaign ads and gaffes that are defining one of the most competitive presidential races in recent history.
While many well known political videos can be found on YouTube’s You Choose channel, an increasing number of videos are being created and posted on .tv domain name Web sites, signaling to Internet users that the Web site offers videos and other rich media content. VeriSign, Inc. the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world, operates the .tv registry (www.tv) in addition to the .com and .net domain name registries.
With the increasing popularity of .tv domain names and their connection to rich media content, anyone with an Internet connection now has the power to educate, inform and possibly sway fellow voters by uploading and sharing videos of their favorite candidate, commentaries or even spoofs captured from television shows. As a result, specialized political Web sites with a .tv domain name have cropped up attempting to educate and represent a vast range of candidates, views and issues. Among them: www.election.tv, www.Politicallunch.blip.tv, www.Moblogic.tv, www.Fora.tv, www.bloggingheads.tv, www.60secondguide.tv, www.politicalvideo.tv, www.presidentialelection08.tv.
“An emerging generation of consumers are watching video on computers and wireless devices — and to them, that’s television,” said Jill McNabb, Director at VeriSign. “Without question, TV universally stands for television and the ‘dot’ in .TV synonymously represents the Internet. We are moving into an era of personalized channels in which individuals can establish their own programming with a .tv domain name and share video content with others who have similar interests.”
Millions already “watch TV” on computers, mobile phones and other devices. According to research by eMarketer, 52 percent of Internet users aged 13-24 watch TV shows online, as do 48 percent of those aged 25-41. Meanwhile, 77 percent of all Internet users — from youths to senior citizens — watch some kind of video content online.
Every time I watch American Idol get a chuckle at what Ryan Seacrest has to say when the put the voting #s on the screen: “Remember these are 866 numbers, not 800#s.”
It’s VERY clear that some people (for some odd reason) think time is standing still.
PROOF is clearly in investments and development…and it keeps pretty good company thus far.
Nebraska.TV
Macon.TV
HamptonRoads.TV
InRich.TV
Boston.TV
Montreal.TV
AtlanticCity.TV
MLB.TV (owns every team)
NHL.TV
PartyPoker.TV
Overlay.TV
Vator.TV
Mercedes-Benz.TV
RealMeals.TV
Next.TV
Weather.TV
Fora.TV
Howard.TV
BrightCove.TV
VBS.TV
Mp3.TV
TNT.TV
TBS.TV
uStream.TV (declined $50 million)
Lx.TV (sold for $10 million)
Microsoft.TV
TurnHere.TV
TurnHereTravel.TV.
ps: nice pick up on Podcasting.TV!
.tv is a great extension for television shows and networks which your post points out.
We also own great.tv which we do plan on developing sometime.
Great Blog, I have been reading everyday. I invest and buy both .com and .tv domains nothing else.
That you for covering .TV a TLD many would like to see go away becomes it presents a great alternative .com in the online media space and many many companies are choosing to develop and brand .tv.
You seem to understand the value on .TV on any sites in which Video content is the driving model of a business. Video as we know is the future of the net as we will have many thousands of online video channels to watch and one day traditional TV and the net will converge. Of course .com will be huge in the online video space too, but to write off .TV completely in the face of the mass development that has happened and is currently underway is ridiculous IMO
I would argue based on the current development and the companies involved .tv is easily 2nd best to .com when it comes to Geo Development (The major area of development I am involved in regarding .TV)
Tell me another TLD where major media companies are developing using pure generic Geo domains other then .com and .tv ?
In fact, in markets where both .com and .tv domains are fully developed sites, Tulsa.tv gets twice the traffic as Tulsa.com and Nebraska.tv gets 3 times the traffic as Nebraska.com proving at the end of the day content and superior development trump the natural traffic advantage those .coms has to start.
By the way did you see Vegas.com recently registered Las.tv at $500 per year?
As far as Frager’s point at 800 vs 866 many many companies that own the .com are also using the .tv for the video side of their business. They are saying it is not enough for us to have the .com alone. Just in the examples given by NY above
HamptonRoads.com Owned by Landmark Communications owner of
Weather.com and Weather.tv
HamptonRoads.com and HamptonRoads.tv also
PartyPoker.com PartyPoker.tv
MLB.com uses and brands MLB.tv for there video side
Nhl.com and NHL.tv
Mercedes-Benz.com and Mercedes-Benz.tv
Tell me examples of companies that use 800 numbers and 866 to brand two different sides of their business?
If these major companies felt .com was enough alone as companies that use 1-800 feel, why do these companies .com feel they need the .TV as well, not to forward, but to market and brand as stand alone facets of their business. Yes some of the top (but not all) .TV names have a premium fee, but to a developer $500-1K a year for a massive brand advantage is nothing more then a write off. This is the real world speaking not domainers.
I think .TV is great for any online video site and with the on point development I am seeing across the web it is hard to argue this point.
What are your plans for Great.tv ? I also own DVR.tv and Webcasting.tv among others. I think Webcasting.tv and Podcasting.tv create some interesting co-development possibilities we should consider.
Brian
Great.tv was suppose to be a social site where people could gather and discuss tv shows, gossip etc
The only thing that has held back .tv from really taking off is the oppressive annual fees.
Great.tv is 3K a year. I really sucks to write the check each year when I have great .com that make me money every day that cost $7 a year.
Until the policy changes .tv will never seriously make a run at .com, but will continue to enjoy a niche in the TV, video, blog sectors
Nice to see this thread still alive…
I disagree though ADMIN.
It really sucks to you–(no offense), but to companies around the world looking to develop an actual stand-alone business, it means “nothing”.
Contact Boston.TV, RealMeals.TV, Nebraska.TV, VBS.TV, Howard.TV or any other successful developed brand/company and ask them if they were forced now into a $3,000, $5,000 or even $10,000 annual premium fee–if they would maintain their brand. I am 1,000% percent positive of their answer. “YES.”
The real issue here on “acceptance” is the every-day domainer isn’t buying domains with ANY intention of development, so it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to comprehend the “value” in a premium DOT TV domain name. Many people think, why would I pay thousands of dollars to let it collect dust or pieces of PPC?
Lets take Texas.com, California.com, Florida.com just as examples. These (IMO) domains would probably fetch ($750,000-$3,000,000) Well, you could buy Texas.TV for $50,000 a year, California.TV for $15,000 and Florida.TV $25,000.
To a company who has plans to develop and chase ad dollars this is peanuts. The brand value that domains like these carry are invaluable to the owner AND consumer, AND advertisers as it carrys the ultimate competitive advantage by default.
NY
There are 50 states. When your talking about competing with .com’s you need to get 20 million plus registrations.
What I’m saying is when you have to pay $3K a year for a :”fair” name like great.tv, which of course comes to 30K for 10 years of use, its going to be very hard to get 20 million registrations.
Moreover besides the annual fee, the other problem is that there is no guarantee that the domain will be renewalable next year or five years from now at the same cost, is there?
So if you license Florida.tv for $25K and spend $250K to promote it what guarantee do you have the next year fee does not get set at $250,000??
There are some names like sex.tv which license fees are set in the six and seven figures, are there not?
So in your example
Admin.
Enom cannot raise your premium fees unless you let a domain name lapse.
This is fact and many fail to realize this.
From Enom.com “NOTES:
* .TV premium names cannot be transferred to another registrar.
* Annual Renewal fees for .TV premium names will be the same as the initial “Buy Now” registration fee.
”
I have many high up contacts there and I have been assured of this personally in writing.
They understand that people need to be able to brand these names with this assurance and they have provided it.
Brian is correct. I too have a line of communication via the premium department.
FACT: *UNLESS a name drops they CAN NOT raise/alter/edit/change your domain name annual premium renewal fee, period.
Thanks for reminding me how many states we have…lol.
NY
Guys
Thanks for the info. Was not aware of the guaranteed fees.
If you want to find .tv domains developed and a click away check out Dot TV on Demand–it’s awesome. Unity 4 Humanity has done the most amazing things for the .tv domains.
ı am not know :S
The following is in the updated registration agreement for .TV domains:
“In addition, renewal prices for Premium .TV names may be different from the original registration price. Your premium name renewal fee will be no greater than your registration fee as long as all of the following occur 1) you renew the name, 2) VeriSign maintains its current .tv agreement with Tuvalu and 3) eNom maintains its current .tv agreement with VeriSign. eNom commits to not increase renewal fees above the registration fee for as long as the fees we pay do not increase.”
We picked up over 25 high-value political .tv’s over the past two weeks after reading this old article. One of my favorites is “VoteForMe.TV”…quirky, but useable. Most of our .tv acquisitions have been at reg-fee…11 bucks 🙂
– TBC