$5.5 Million In .TV Domains Up For Grabs Today, Winners & Losers

by

As you know by now the .TV registry released over 22,000 previously reserved domains, last night just after midnight.

Here are some early observations:

Of the 16 highest price domains, 7 of them were trademarked terms:

pdf.tv 4630
mac.tv 4500
bbc.tv 4310
ibm.tv 3750
gmc.tv 3560
nfl.tv 3500
dlp.tv 3440

bbc.tv is going to be trouble.

same for nfl.tv and dlp.tv.

Regardless of use I’m not sure any of these will hold up against actions which are sure to follow.

The best domains in my opinion got registered by one company called Dreamseller located in Virgina which got a great list of domain names including Ted.tv, Wedding.tv, Doctor.tv, History.tv, Cook.tv, Government.tv, Washington.tv, Animal.tv, Date.tv and Zoo.tv, and some great adult ones which will go nameless.  Dreamseller already owned some premium .tv domains like realestate.tv.

Other really good pickups were Computer.tv, Satellite.tv, Gamble.tv, Bible.tv, Crime.tv, Hardcore.tv, Biography.tv, Stock.tv, Lol.tv, Bob.tv

It doesn’t look like any one or two character reserved domains were released.

Losers include Enom’s system, which was not working properly as its still showed domains as being available that had been registered hours earlier.

Losers also include myself, which didn’t pick up really anything meaningful, and most other “big domainers”.

The biggest losers were those who spent thousands, tens of thousands and even more in premium registration and renewal fees, in some cases for years only to see equal or better domains sold with no such restriction.

The other big loser, the .TV registry

Beyond selling off some of the truly premium domains for pennies on the dollar, its interesting to see how much crap the .TV registry held back all these years.

Out of the 22K + domains released today, mixed in with those great domains I talked about, were thousands and thousands three letter domains 99% of which had no special meaning, thousands of other domains that have nothing to do whatsoever with TV or broadcasting, and were reserved for years and years by the registry.

There really is no reason I can think of why 80% of this list was not released years ago, getting the extension into use thousands of more times.

Congrats to everybody who got some of the great ones.

Filed Under: .tv

About Michael Berkens

Michael Berkens, Esq. is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheDomains.com. Michael is also the co-founder of Worldwide Media Inc. which sold around 70K domain to Godaddy.com in December 2015 and now owns around 8K domain names . Michael was also one of the 5 Judges selected for the the Verisign 30th Anniversary .Com contest.

Comments

  1. Robbie says

    I picked up four three char .tv domains, I do have a project that I plan to use them on and several endusers in mind that I could flip these too and I got the four of them for under $1k which make me smile even more.

    It shall be interested to see what happends to the .tv marketplace now

  2. iBroker.tv says

    I have been an investor in .TV for some time. My enom account exec notified me a few days before the release. I didnt get everything I want, but still feel like I came out pretty good.

    Picked up a number of killer names for very reasonable prices. And that sweet sweet standard renewal fee.

    Really tip my hat to enom for getting in touch with early adopters and ensuring the land rush was a level playing field.

  4. Mike says

    I agree it was a cool move to tip off the early adopters.. I knew there was a reason for me to keep an eye on the Namepros .tv forum all this time! Members of NP .TV forum (mostly comprised of early adopters and .tv faithful) = biggest winners. Congrats.

    @Robbie, it will be interesting to see the .tv aftermarket once the premium auctions finish on April 8th.

  5. Mike says

    I should mention as MHB did already here. There was LOTS of crap held back. I know some people probably lost their shirts yesterday regging just to reg…

  6. Leonard Britt says

    From a list of 54 thousand domains on Wednesday, 23 thousand were available midnight Friday morning. Who registered more than 30 thousand premium .TV domains in perhaps a 36-hour timeframe?

  7. MHB says

    iBroker

    “”” Really tip my hat to enom for getting in touch with early adopters and ensuring the land rush was a level playing field.””

    How was it a “level Playing Field” when some people had advanced notice and others did not.

    I think that is the definition of not a “level playing field”

  9. Mike says

    @ MHB – haha, ya that makes more sense.. BUT as we all know in domaining there REALLY isn’t such a thing, is there??

  11. Lee H. says

    I have a couple .tv’s and I personally think they have potential value if developed. ALso, my understanding has been that they tend to rank well as compared to other gTLDs and ccTLDs.

    @$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
    I disagree that the .tv has to refer to an existing network. The term “TV” is rapidly changing with video content delivery coming thru computer, phones, and a plethora of other new devices. We as consumers tend to hold on to whats familiar. That said, I think the term “TV” will be around for a long time even if it in the future becomes an obsolete device to watch video content.

    The potential to build out niche sites that contain related video IMHO has a lot of upward potential.

  12. steven says

    This is a money grab by Verisign and Enom.

    This is no different than .biz selling off 2 letter names. Instead of keeping them and not making anything, they are selling them off and figured they would make more money this way.

    Unless you have a development game plan for the .tv names, i would be very cautious.

  13. Bruce says

    I gotta tell ya, these don’t seem so premium to me. I personally have some names that are better than some of these myself. Just my opinion.

  14. Leonard Britt says

    MHB-ENOM sent a list to .TV investors prior to the release offering regular renewals at the old premium price for year one. I inquired but the window was very tight and didn’t pick up any until after midnight. Apparently a glitch in the system allowed a few to pick up some names at Dynadot for reg fee before the midnight release. Obviously a few individuals acquired hundreds or perhaps thousands of premium .TV domains before the release. Was that ENOM”s intent?

  15. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ says

    “The term “TV” is rapidly changing with video content delivery coming thru computer, phones, and a plethora of other new devices.”

    but the .com of the same video services/products always are easier to remember

    however… the ipad.tv is already registered… 🙁

    .

  17. David J Castello says

    DotTV made the right move because they saw the writing on the wall. No matter how long it takes, the new gTLDs are coming and it’s going to spell confusion in the market place for any ccTLDs that are not used primarily by their indigineous population and businesses.

  18. Jim Holleran says

    I picked up some good ones, including England.tv, Utah.tv, Horoscope.tv which one day later all already got e-mails of people wanting to buy the names. However, I am curious to see what Enom/Verisign does about people who have existing premiums such as my Spain.tv which I got last year that cost me $1,000 per year. Time will tell but can’t complain.

    Thanks, Jim

  19. MHB says

    David

    The registry left a lot of money on the table, not by releasing 22,000 domains but by releasing the few hundred that would have commanded prices well above their pricing level had they auctioned them off.

    They also choked off the market to a large extend by holding most of these domains for no reason for many years rather than letting them get out being used.

  20. David J Castello says

    @Mike:
    I agree and, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t dotMobi and dotTravel do something of the same? I remember ultra-premium Generic and Geo names for both being held back for quite a while.

  24. MHB says

    Brands

    I would argue that bbc.tv is worse, because theoretically, depending on use, you could keep any of those .me if you didn’t park them.

    However BBC.tv and NFL.tv those are going to be taken by UDRP or being sued to hell and back.

  25. Brands-and-Jingles says

    Completely agree. This is what Porsche did in the case No. DME2008-0002. As to the other auto brands, I wonder what one can with them? There is no point of keeping them down and hoping that the brand owners will pay you hefty sums.

  26. Gazzip says

    bbc.tv, nfl.tv, ibm.tv, mac.tv – EEEK, is that pushing it or what ?

    Looks like the .tv registry are attempting to cash in their chips before all the new gTLDs are launched and become “the next best thing since sliced bread”, wise move on their part.

    I like .TV as an extension but I rarely see many being used on TV…shame really

  27. MHB says

    Gazzip

    Part of the reason you haven’t seen any in use is because the registry tied so many of these up for so many years.

  28. MHB says

    David

    Yes .mobi and .travel held back premium domains so did .me.

    All registries do and will.

    The issue is how many, how and when to release them and picking the “gold” the real premium names from the crap.

    Why is nunnery.tv on the same premium list as wedding.tv

    Are you kidding me

    LOL

  29. Gazzip says

    “Part of the reason you haven’t seen any in use is because the registry tied so many of these up for so many years.”

    Yeah, I was thinking that, maybe the extension would have done better had companies like bbc, nfl, mac etc been given them to use on TV ??

    The line between operating as a registrar or being a domainer/investor/speculator has more or less dissapeared.

    ..now it’s ICANNs turn to share in the bounty with all these new gTLD’s 🙂

  31. iBroker.TV says

    Well,

    They shouldn’t feel so bad if it was a money grab.

    The names they were selling were quite strong….and quite cheap.

    A lot of other establishments will try and grab your cash by selling straight up Junk. http://bit.ly/bTwGop

  32. everything.tv says

    Michael where the 55,000 number comes from was the original list and no 30,000 did not sell Leonard. They finally removed 3 character .tv from premium status. You can read about that here http://www.everything.tv/2010/03/something-not-mentioned-in-the-regging-frenzy-maybe-another-opportunity.html

    Michael, Verisign controlled premiums by themself. up until 2007 when ENOM/Demand Media joined them as a marketing partner. Rosenblatt was excited they created ChannelME.tv paid xxx,xxx for Me.tv and they published a list of premium names. A lot of these names were not premium. Business.tv was on the same list as hyphenated names, names that made no sense and everything else.

    Nothing was held back, so that’s wrong. You could pay their price as many did, some names that were there last night I knew guys who owned for one year for $1000, to $10,000.

    They decided to change the program which I have been writing about for years. Look Verisign missed names before, in 2004 I regged LCD.tv for reg fee at Godaddy, Verisign missed it. Videos.tv owned by a friend in France who has turned down $75,000 offers is non premium. The system was never straight.

    So now you can buy a premium at any registrar not just ENOM. Get this there is price competition too. ENOM might sell a name for $400 but Dynadot offering it at $380 and name.com at $350 so you can shop for the best premium price.

    Its been crazy for the last 72 hours.

  40. Mike says

    Many of the premium .tv domains are not very related to “tv” keyword. I listed availabe .tv domain list yesterday and many were taken since then.

  41. MHB says

    Dooooo

    It will be interesting to see what happens to the domains like the ones you mentioned since they still have the premium renewal fee attached to them.

    Will people keep paying thousands of dollars a year to renew domains while other are paying $20?

  44. Brett Moffitt says

    Lets hope they come to an arrangement with us premium owners.. It was a great day for .tv, but a kick in the teeth for the people that have supported the extension for a few years.
    To think sales.tv was less than $1000 and then reg fee from then on.. but… forsale.tv is $3500 PER YEAR! Tell me how that is fair to guys who own premiums now.. They basically cut our throats in a business sense as they have now devalued our names in one single swoop..

  45. James Barclay says

    This was nothing short of a money grab by Verisign and Enom, given how badly the market for .tv had become.

    Alot of people registered shit cause there are shit domainers, then there are those who do ok, by investing what they can afford to lose, and not getting to heavily invested in any one particular extension, especially one as volatile as .tv.

    I was lucky enough to see the writing in the wall and sold all but three premiums at quite a large profit for .tv – xxx,xxx.

    As Demand Media continued to raise premiums good and crap to ridiculously high levels, I cashed out completely. This was insane pricing policy as the economy was tanking in a way that hasn’t been seen since the Great Depression.

    But then rumors went flying all over the place that something BIG was about to happen. Certain big portfolio holders were told in advance of the rest of the .tv community about great names they could register at the one off premium price followed by regular renewals..

    Most people however did not know what has come to be known as the gold rush….on the day of the release of the “premium” list, alot of stunning names became reg fee…..and people started regging names at $29.99 at Dynodot and Name.Com – and chaos ensued with both registrars due to them not being able to get the list in time to cut off the regging at regular pricing.

    I stuck with Goddady and regged all these names for reg fee – some of my names regged that day include Arabs.Tv, Dyke.Tv, Pump.Tv, Holy.Tv, Mint.Tv, Jail.Tv, Webdesigners.Tv, Filmstars.Tv. Solicitor.Tv, Ghetto.Tv, Mach.Tv, Kaufen.Tv, , Daytrading.tv, Daytraders.tv, Stockmarkets.Tv, and one one off premium Brown.TV.(400) followed by regular fee renewals and a few that are under offer.

    I also own at reg fee MovieProducers.Tv, Crimson.tv, Memorials .Tv Sechs.Tv Zehn.Tv, Eins.TV (co-owned) Canberra.Tv (co-owned) FinancialPlanners.Tv, Pundit.v, Pilots.Tv – all reg fee.

    I dont think this is the best portfolio, but with all being reg fee, its a punt I am willing to take.

    I have four premiums. Trading.Tv ($500) DIY.TV(co-owned ) 1k renwal paid until 2013, Vid.Tv ($375) and Care.Tv ($250) . Trading.Tv is a mini-site producing revenue, Care.Tv is a blog of mine that is down for maintenance and Vid.Tv I am holding onto – for the moment anyway.

    I am spending less than 10% of my time and money in .TV, but if the stars do align, at least I have some skin in the game.

    The real losers and my heart goes out to them are the big time heavy annual premium renewal fee owners, the zealots who carried the flag while everyone else mocked….how are they getting repaid? By getting shafted by Verisign. Verisign had the opportunity to make every name regular renewal. Instead there is now a two tier system, KEEPING UNCERTAINTY in the extension.

    Most of these guys can afford to pay the renewals many times over, but they are almost all unsellable (almost , not all) so now development becomes a forced option or else they all come to a joint agreement with Verisign.

    Today Verisign/Enom has made it clear that they have NO INTENTION of removing the renewal fee from existing premium renewal names.

    Thus it is clear that this was nothing more than a money grab, it certainly is not about promoting the extension IMHO.

  46. Brett Moffitt says

    FYI..
    As the once owner of England.tv I paid $10,000 up front on a 2 year renewal and then sold it, which was then dropped by the next owner due to “his own reasons”.
    Verisign/Enom then took this name back and there it sat again on the shelf.

    The day before the “land rush” they then offered it to another domainer who bought it at $10,000 with normal reg fees from then on.

    To think that I wasnt even asked to put an offer in is absolutely disgusting business practice.

    This crowd of money grabbers have killed this extension through greed and being devoid of any real business ethics.

    I have many ENOM sucks tshirts for sale if anyone is interested in them.. They are FREE of course!

  47. MHB says

    James

    When you say:

    “Today Verisign/Enom has made it clear that they have NO INTENTION of removing the renewal fee from existing premium renewal names.”

    Where is the information coming from?

  50. Alain says

    Does anyone know if Dreamseller will ever sell of some of his domain names? I tried to reach him many times (phone, message) and never got any reply.

    Is Dreamseller name really J. Williams?

    Why is he so quiet and hidden?
    Info on him and Dreamseller (instealthmode.com) are rather limited on the web assuming he is operating for more than 13 years…

    Does anyone knows how to reach him?

  51. MHB says

    Alain

    I talked to the guy last week, he had already sold some domains others are definitely not for sale

  52. Alain says

    Thanks MHB for the quick reply.

    Sorry but since I am not a domainers…, why definitely not for sale? (you mean not for now…?, then when?)

    Can I ask you how you were able to reach him?
    Can you tell me how I can talked to him or get an answer?

    Why is dreamseller (instealthmode.com) so mysterious?

    thanks again,
    Alain

  53. MHB says

    Alain

    They are very smart people. They have chosen to operate quietly out of the spotlight which is their right and I’m not going to drag them into the public light.

    They definitely have some projects they are working on and those domains are simply not for sale.

    I will pass your contact info over to them.

  54. Alain says

    Thanks again for the quick reply.

    I fully understand that and you are doing the right thing by respecting their choice of operating out of the spotlight.

    I really appreciate your offer of passing my contact over to them, I guess/hope you will have more impact than the messages I left.

    Should I give you the name of the domain I am looking for by e-mail?

    One again, many thanks !
    Alain