Prime.TV a company located in Oslo Norway seems to be building out a small empire of excellent .TV sites in various languages including English, German, and Norwegian and the company was just founded last year.
Prime.TV internet properties include these gems:
Guys.TV, Medical.TV; Modern.TV; Makeover.TV; Experience.TV, Inside.TV; Artist.TV; Executive.TV; WildLife.TV; DreamHome.TV; Bites.TV; User.TV; Decor.TV; Fabulous.TV; Hardcore.TV and Softcore.TV
Teknologi.TV (Norwegian for Technology)
Ferie.TV (Norwegian for Vacation)
Underholding.TV (Norwegian for Entertainment)
Interaktiv.TV (Norwegian for Interactive)
Kosmetikk.TV (Norwegian for Cosmetics)
Rezepte.TV (German for recipes)
Urlauber.TV (German for Tourists)
Here is Prime.TV’s vision:
“”Our vision is a TV network that is freely accessible to all people around the world. We want to make sure that people in all corners of the world can access our videos and learn new things, have a good laugh, feel the music buzz or get amazed by new discoveries. Our wide range of .TV channels give us the possibility to reach a large audience and we want to spread our videos to cellphones, home cinema, televisions or any other device that has access to the internet.””
It does not appear that any “stations” are yet active but the company certainly has BIG plans and the raw domain names to build out quite the network.
These assclowns remind me of online.tv (former UK company) that also had a great bunch of .TV keyword names when .TV was first introduced…
Also talked about building a TV network blabla..
What happened to them ? They went bust.
Sorry – a great set of keyword name does make not a TV network..
It’s called being a domainer, LOL
IMO these guys will run out of financing before they get started..
Great entrepreneurs have rarely ever let the lack of the *ideal* domain name stop them from building a great business..
Hoohah!
I asked in a forum about Prime.TV back in August when I noticed that they were picking up great names.
Then in November I posted:
Thorstein Porscke certainly owns some great domains – but I can’t find anything with regards to a video production company. Seems very “domainy” to me. It looks good and all but I didn’t find a single channel with anything on it.
Has something changed? It’s a magnificent portfolio with great promise but without a platform and without any production companies where is it going?
Updates on their blog include:
– We’ve added the Prime.TV logo
– We have added the “i like” button to this website and the blog
– We have added the latest news
– We will add more pictures in the near future
– We are planning several promo stunts to promote our blog, our facebook page and our tweets.
Hmmm – doesn’t sound like much… BUT THEN I read that they struck deals for RealLife.TV (An awesome domain) which wouldn’t make sense if they didn’t have plans.
So the question:
What is the Future of Prime.TV?
I think I know the future of .TV and it’s UP.. but is Prime.TV poised to be a key player in more than a domain context? Definitely positive interesting changes this year for .TV though…
The Future of .TV is today
Aggro
I just went back to look at all of your comments going all the way back to October and regardless of the post, every one of your comment is negative.
Facebook isn’t worth it.
No one wants i.Co
Dating.com purchase sucked
Logo.com purchased sucked
Flowers.Mobi purchase sucked
Diapers.com numbers weren’t to be believed (of course that before Amazon bought it)
Actually the only positive comment I could find in the last month from you was on the WikiLeaks guy of which who you said:
“Assange has plenty of extremely rich people (who he has never met) who are willing to back him”
So the question I have for you is there any acquisition, domain purchase or industry move you think was good?
I hope they have great luck with the .tv portfolio – it can only help the rest of us dot tv owners as well.
Great domains. Just got to wait and see if they will have any actual channels.
I agree mostly with the other commenters that it sounds more domaining to me than real development plans. I am not a developer and yet at least I have some basic content on a few of my .TV domains. Artist.tv is a nice domain but what are you really going to do with these (do they make great brands? IMO no):
Modern.tv
Fabulous.tv
Softcore.tv
Inside.tv
Bites.tv
User.tv
Whatever you want to say they have designed their site beautifully!
If their only goal is to act as a domainer then it seems like a lot of effort just to try and resell these names for a profit.
A great porfolio of names and a very good looking site, thanks for sharing.
“Sorry – a great set of keyword name does make not a TV network..
It’s called being a domainer, LOL”
Well said…
If you own dot Tv, you might as well go live in Oslo but I still prefer dot com as you can live anywhere in the world.
A few stellar .TV domains, some Stock Photography and a modified WordPress theme and you too could have your own “TV Empire”.
🙂
Err… I meant “TV Network”…
http://www.prime.tv/frontpage/news/latest/development-and-primetv-news
Some of you should visit the actual site and read for once.
Show me the Money…
What happens when the government of Tuvala changes the rules and/or increases the fees for premium names or takes those names back?? As with all country code domains the government in charge may ruin plans. I still like the whatevertv.com option. I think the contract with verisign is up next year. Maybe an increase in restrictions, fees will be coming down the tv pipes?? Only time will tell. Good luck to all tv investors. buyer beware.
Don’t Bogart that joint my friend,
roll it on over here! ..
Lets see …..
DJ OLD FASHIONED ACRONYM for > “Disc Jockey”
VJ OLD FASHIONED ACRONYM for > “Video Jockey”
.TV OLD FASHIONED ACRONYM for > “Television”
THE QUESTION: is what will the “Public” …
NAME the New One? ( and BUY it before your even allowed)
Hey man pass that blunt on over here.
Since we like reportage that is fair and balanced, I do like the presentation and layout of the main site. I hope they do follow through with their plans and succeed. Kids that started out in their garage with a crappy video camera are now raking in $100,000+ on Youtube. So it’s not out of the question, but it is the exception. Anything is Possible.
@Landon, I could name the “New One” but it would cost you boo koo bucks!
Verisign’s contract with the country of Tuvala, to run the .TV registry expires in 2016
@ Dean
Landon, I could name the “New One” but it would cost you boo koo bucks!
===============
I have $7 for a hand register …O.K. go ahead i am ready…
@ MHB
You have owned TED.TV since March,2010 …
I think 1,2,3, letters that form will increase in value,
are are the exception for now.
Landon
Yes we got Ted.TV for $754 in March I’m sure we will get a nice return out of it.
Although I like another first name Dave.TV which we got more recently for $1,200
I like their site (Prime). Good luck to ’em.
We have rather grand plans for our .TV portfolio – one day at a time…
– TBC
@ MHB
The first thing that had come to mind after Ted.tv was Dave.tv
(reference to comedy show of past)
There is name recognition in both,
Ted is super popular male name
in Great Britain
(Teddy boys,Uncle Ted etc)
TEDDY BEARS FOR SALE?
ccTLD’s are so undervalued…all of them…
Just wait until one day when all the search engines decide to “flip the switch” to give equal access to everyone, everywhere, regardless of extension…my gut tells me its coming someday
– TBC
Prime.tv is certainly attracting attention, and that alone says something to me. If they are looking to resell those domains, I’m sure they won’t have any trouble finding interested buyers. If it is indeed a fledgling network of shows, I wish them tons of success in the endeavor.
Nice pickup on Dave.tv, MHB.
I think just start developing one and go from there, not every names suits the extension , i would love to see artist online showing off great art and artists to the world ……. remember it has to be visual
Prime.TV looks great:
“social-mobile-video” is the future of the web and .TV fits in very nicely.
– TBC
MHB
Have you approached TED.com?
@MHB – Thank you for the post Michael, I truly appreciate your kind words and the attention you have given our project/site.
While we’re still in the making (and we’ve barely started) we’ve already noticed a huge interest in our .TV’s and the direction we’re heading. While some of our domains aren’t a perfect fit for .TV we’re convinced some of our best picks have the potential to become great brands.
For all the people claiming this looks like a domainer at work, I can tell you it’s not. I’m a developer and so are the people that have joined me on this venture.
Why do we have so many .TV’s? Well, this may seem a little ironic, but we bought a lot of these names to make sure we don’t have to pay 50x 2-5 years down the road. Most of our domains already have ideas and plans attached to them. We have no launch date set, but I would like to clarify that we’re going to use our own videos only (original content) – this is not going to be a youtube video network.
A big thank you to all of you who have posted your feedback, positive and negative. We’re always looking to improve our network and the design/performance of our site, so all feedback is welcome.
It is very encouraging and motivating to see so many people excited about Prime.TV and the work we’ve done so far, and we’ve barely started. I agree with all you who’re saying that .TV is on the rise and we’re going to do our share to put .TV on the map.
All the best to all of you,
Thorsten
PS: Thank you again for the post Michael, I’m still open to questions if you have them. My emails are still getting bounced back with a CNAME error 🙁
hope prime.tv build’s a mega empire
@Mr. T,
Using original content is the way to go – glad to see you think the way we do. Brand-building is no easy task, but highly rewarding to those who are successful.
Good luck.
– TBC
I always find it funny when people criticize other developments to the extent of failure or success by the way the site looks, the extension or what have you. Developments take time and are not a fly by night scenerio. Ultimately the people who take on a venture do so not to prove anything to anyone but themselves and they are not going to spill all the beans to satisfy a curiosity.
Someone even posted a comment that Prime.tv is a wordpress site as if that is some sort of a flaw because anyone can do that. There a millon+ rev companies that use wordpress and by no mean can you judge anyone by that, hello.
Whether one is a domainer, developer, entrepeneur, all or none, or a mix, it should be noted that any step made nurture a domain is a positive one in this day and age.
Anytime a .TV is mentioned it seems the same arguement arises against the tld .TV, ha ha ha, instead of pointing out hardcore facts for or against the model, which the owner(s) of the domain(s) have no obligation to furnish.
My question is why do the descriptions for the various “channels” indicate that they’re already very popular and describe programming that doesn’t seem to exist.
For example:
“One of our most popular channels is Makeover.tv. Quite a few of the most profiled names in the fashion, make-up and beauty industry show their tricks, techniques and ideas for a more beautiful YOU. If you’re looking for beauty tricks, makeover information, spa reviews or fashion trends, this is the place for you to visit.”
http://www.prime.tv/network
It really just looks like a list of domains and ideas for how prospective purchasers might use them. Not knocking it, but telling you my take. There’s nothing wrong with doing that. The amount of money required to put together the type of network of channels they imagine is likely beyond anything they have. I hope they do well in selling their portfolio of names, though. There are some good ones in there.
@Sanchay
As always, you have a well balanced view of things which is a novelty in today’s black and white world. That said, the site creates FAR more questions than answers by making promises I don’t believe it can keep.
Nurturing and growing are not the same as promising the impossible.
@Mr T
I wish you the best of luck. Only time will tell if you will succeed. You have certainly have amassed a number of great domains that definitely have immediate brandability.
@MHB
There is a TV channel here in the UK called DAVE – seems dave.tv would be the prefect fit for them, They currently use uktv.co.uk/dave – If you ever need a broker to pitch them you know where I am.
Mr T,
I like your candid, open and insightful response. It sounds like you have a good game plan.
Knock it out of the ballpark!
It doesn’t surprise me that another European firm is using .tv’s for development or just investment. After 3 and a half years I feel that .tv’s worth not only for development but for reselling too.
When I first started buying .tv domains I was motivated just by my instinct and the advantage of knowledge by living in Europe. Now I m seeing .tv really close to mainstream and I m waiting for the almighty US market to catch up what Europeans already know.
As dsl and cable connections are getting faster and more stable in the States we are going to see more companies using them as a main domain and not just a redirect.
Oprah OWN project is a good example to follow and see how .tv’s are doing atmo in the US market. They do own OWN.TV but they are using it as a masked 301 (permanent) redirect. That means they can switch whenever they want to the .tv domain without loosing any search engine url that were indexed.
@ Robbie / @ MHB
………………………
Robbie, what a blowhard ….
you REWORD my ABOVE post about Dave.tv @MHB
and then try to extort a Broker Fee as if this was
your idea. I am sure Michael knew about them already and
does not need your … downright cheap hustle to approach them directly.
It’s a load of “coming soon” rubbish. We’ve seen this all before with .tv dominairs claiming to be starting something akin to a tv network. Registering hundreds isn’t the start of a tv network, it is the end because it just a cash vacuum. Expect these to expire or be sold just like those with the same plan previously like dottvking in the early 2000’s and online.tv a couple of years ago.
everything oprah recommends turns to gold.
Biggest example of recent years being Acai Berry.
That industry generated over $1b online alone.
if OWN.TV ever takes off, so will dotTV domains IMO
Justin.TV is already a pretty successful dotTV site. alexa 450. Might be the biggest dot TV site.
We don’t own any dottv domains, but i can understand excitement around them.
Video content is not cheap to produce and its not easy to build such a network. However it could be highly rewarding if done successfully.
MHB, good luck with your dot.tv dmains. I know you have a bunch of them
Glad snoopy got a chance to trash .TV here. It didn’t feel like a complete thread without it. Of course the business models of premium .TV owners didn’t change with the new pricing policies last year. Right?
I’m not saying this company will succeed (I wish them luck!) but there’s every reason to believe that people who pick up premium TVs with normal renewal fees will succeed where they couldn’t before. Not all of them will mind you, but a good deal more of them will now then before.
Thats a lot of great tv domains. I think that with the right marketing they CAN create an empire. Everyone in the world knows about TV – it should not be too hard for people to type in .TV as an extension.
Nice set of domains. I agree on the OWN.tv comment above. OWN.tv can be the greatest thing ever happened to .tv imo.
@Trading.TV,
Nice domain – lots of potential with that one. What are your plans for it?
– TBC
Own.tv could be the greatest thing to happen to the extension except that the domain is being forwarded to a .com:
http://www.oprah.com/own
how many of them will be really used for a site?
Hope they develop artist ……….very visual
My gut-instincts tell me the next decade will be all about .TV (in the domaining world). I’m glad we picked up the ones we want to develop before the prices get too out-of-hand. 😉
– TBC
@Mr T, congrats to stepping up and going for it. I am not a developer but been buying .tv since 2000. In fact, I own; Makeovers.tv but looking to sell it and not develop it. Good luck with your, Makeover.tv and the rest of your sites.
Thanks, Jim
These are the .TV’s we plan to develop between 2011-2014:
5D.TV
d8.tv
BestActor.TV
Together.TV
Soc.TV
VSN.TV
HNN.TV
Silly.TV
Folly.TV
Cheeseburger.TV
VoteForMe.TV
Broadscape.TV
BeachMarket.TV
GraffitiCreator.TV
– TBC
&
MilwaukeeHomes.TV
MemphisHomes.TV
– TBC
I would like to throw another big thank you to all you who’ve showed your support and given us valuable feedback. I wish I had time to reply to each and every one of you, but that’s not doable right now so I’ll TRY to keep it short.
Aggro – I wouldn’t consider us assclowns and we’re definitely not domainers. We’re developers and we’re slowly moving Prime.TV Network into a direction that will bring .TV in the spotlight for good. I don’t understand why you tag us as domainers just because we’ve put together a set of .TV’s. I bet if you owned half of our .TV’s you’d make us pay 10x-20x what we paid when we acquired them. The fact that we bought these domains before someone else did saved us a fortune and we now get to invest that money into development of unique content, branding and marketing. That’s called financing!
In terms of being a domainer, we have people scan the market for us. We are represented on a few selective domainer related forums/blogs to keep up with everything that’s going on.
Brandy.TV – Thank you for your comments and best wishes. we’re going to do our part to move .TV into the right direction! Starting a TV Network isn’t done over night and we have a LOT of options to consider. The most important thing is to find a platform that works for all our future channels, a platform that can be expanded into any direction we may want to go 3-6 years from now. Our channels will come, just stay tuned.
Nancy – Thank you for your wishes. We will have channels with unique content.
Gnanes, Zoop & FX – Thank you, everything is in the making.
Leonard Britt – We chose to forward our .TV’s to Prime.TV due to several reasons. One reason is to give people a general idea of what we’re all about until the channels launch. If you have a simple landing page you’re not guaranteed that a visitor will click the Prime.TV Network link. Because we’ve forwarded our channel visitors to Prime.TV we’ve increased our chances that people will look around. Believe it or not but a lot of visitors who’ve landed on Prime.TV have contacted us with resumes and video portfolios. A very few of those people are now going to be featured on some of the .TV channels in the making. It was a simple marketing decision.
Richard, Bob – thank you for the positive feedback.
BullS – Oslo is nice, but I’d prefer a tropical climate these days 🙂
Gnanes, Anrew Douglas, Trading.TV & LasVegas.VC – Thank you!
Dean – Thank you for your feedback and kind words. I’m happy you like the layout. We’ve invested a lot of money into this and we’ve got no plans to stop. We’ve put together a solid business plan and we’re ready to rumble. Expect more to come!
Soc.TV – thank you. You’ve got the right approach going. One day at a time, babysteps. Patience is a virtue and it pays off in the long run if you’re passionate about what you do!
Patty – Thank you so much for your feedback. We have no interest in selling, we’re only looking to develop and take .TV into a new direction.
Blonde – you’ve hit the nail on the head. We’re focusing on one project at a time and go from there. Some people seem to believe that we’re developing all channels at once – that’s definitely not doable at this point in time. But Artist.TV is definitely on our list of development!
Together.TV – I agree with you. No way on earth would we create a network based on youtube videos. Why would we want to waste our time developing sites when people can go straight to youtube and find the same videos there?
Sanchay Kumar – thank you for your comment. Your post is pretty much a reflection of what I’m thinking. I agree that some people need to get their facts straight in terms of platforms and CMS usage, but that’s a different ballgame. We’re not doing this to prove anything to anyone. We do this because we think it’s fun and we’re having a good time doing what we do best – develop media-rich websites with unique content. Thank you again for your mature and knowledgable comment, it is much appreciated.
Rusty – good question. We’ve aimed the text this way because it is directly related to the inquiries we’ve received from our visitors since March 2010. We already have a decent numbers of videos ready, but the platform/site is still in the dev stage. We know the amount of money needed to create a network of this proportion is beyond comprehension, but we’re taking baby steps in the right direction.
Snoopy – Do you really think we would let these names expire?
))) the DOT mail TLD support site ((( – Most of our domains are included in our long term business plan.
Jim Holleran – Thank you for your comments, I noticed you have quite a few great .TV’s yourself. Good luck with those! I’ll get back to you on the Makeovers.TV domain if we need it.
It’s definitely time to wrap this up. Thank you again all for your comments, they are much appreciated.
Have a great day all,
-Thorsten
Mr. T, I appreciate the response and wish you the best of luck. It’s commendable that you’ve committed yourself to such a project. I hope you do well.
We finally broke down and accepted advertisers to our landing page 🙁 We didn’t want to do this, as we’re in the process of developing multiple web-properties, but traffic has exploded since Jan. 1 (now getting 2,000+ hits per day). Percentage-wise, we’ve seen the biggest jumps in:
Silly.TV
Broadscape.TV
CMT.Me
5D.TV
We made $300 in affiliate cash over the weekend (just turned the ads on Sat.), so this may work out well ’til we get the sites up and running 😉
– TBC
“Snoopy – Do you really think we would let these names expire?”
///////////////
Depends on whether they are premium renewals or not. Nobody starts with plans to let names expire.
“I’m not saying this company will succeed (I wish them luck!) but there’s every reason to believe that people who pick up premium TVs with normal renewal fees will succeed where they couldn’t before. ”
//////////////////
The problem as I see it is that that video based development is very difficult in terms of formulating a business model and creating videos. It is high cost with in my view, limited rewards. I don’t think we’ve seen any .tv domainer really get anywhere with their domains (aside from selling domains), it is just always talk about coming soon sites. People have bought dozens of geos, product names you name it, I can’t think of one example of someone coming up with a real business model.
In my view even thinking about developing hundreds of sites in this space is a recipe for failure. Would be better to think about developing *one*, you know, walk before you can run. The fact that the owner said he bought all these names because he is worried about paying 5 times the price in a few years time is another bad sign in my view. That is how a lot of domainers bomb out, they get way ahead of themselves and do it for the wrong reasons.
Rusty – Thank you. It’s all about figuring out what you love to do. Once you find YOUR niche, anything is possible. This is what we love to do and we’re excited about the progress we’re making.
Snoopy – None of the .TV’s are premiums and we weren’t worried about the future. It was a strategic move to pick up these domains early, not a matter of getting ahead of ourselves. Money we’ve saved on acquisitions now is money well spent later on branding, marketing, development, content creation etc etc.
“The problem as I see it is that that video based development is very difficult in terms of formulating a business model and creating videos. It is high cost with in my view, limited rewards. ”
“In my view even thinking about developing hundreds of sites in this space is a recipe for failure. Would be better to think about developing *one*, you know, walk before you can run.”
Sounds like good advice Snoopy, it makes me think of that guy from hollywood.tv a couple of years ago, although I think he was a millionaire to start with…which helps 😉 He had huge plans (and press coverage) but most the domains are not in use anymore.
thenational.ae/business/media/dubai-tv-already-a-major-concern
He owned sports.tv, dubai.tv, abudhabi.tv and a few others, only hollywood.tv seems active now.
Sports.tv looks like it may be for sale? Amazing that sport.tv and sports.tv both ain’t developed by this time….considering their potential.
…That being said, I do wish you good luck MrT
Gazzip, they let sports.tv expire, and a lot of other names as well I think.
Good luck with your future development Mr. T.
It sounds like you are on the right path. Please keep us posted on future updates.
The lack of a domainer background and bringing world ideas to your .TV development projects will pay dividends!
Thank you Gazzip & DotTV Fan – we’ll definitely keep you updated!
“Gazzip, they let sports.tv expire”
EEK, Holy cwap 😉 That’s a peachy one, what a waste.
Snoopy
Of course when you say “they let” sports.tv expire your not talking about the owners of prime.tv letting it expire but another company
@MHB – This guy owned it before according to a view news/press articles i read a while back, sheeraz.com
I just found this article that mentions he’s dropping it : nametalent.com/blog/?tag=sheeraz-com
Says it was a $100,000/year renewal fee and he held it for 4 years…..EEK
“view” …few 😉 ooo
I wonder why discovery hasn’t tried to get DirtyJobs.tv … if you ever watch the show.. mike is always asking for new ideas.. but who can ever remember the long forward slash.. domain they give out to contact them… i would think the easier to remember DirtyJobs.tv would give them a big boost in feedback..
Regarding .tv I have always argued that the extension is great if you are a tv producer who can make content that people will watch and advertisers will pay to sponsor
@Owen – the main goal of every .TV holder with development plans should be the use of video content, unique video content! That’s what people like to see.
I believe there is only one thing which will make .tv domain names an instant hit: reduction in registration fees. I bought a premium name in a few years back which I sold in 2010 for a huge amount of money . I am not allowed to disclose the amount or the company I sold it to but it was a surprise for the company which brokered the deal. A Japanese company made me an offer which it first I thought was a joke. I let the name go and registered Today.tv to make sure I don’t lose out when the .tv gold rush reignites. .
So when is Mr.T going to fulfil the dreams of so many?
Checked the site… they have a slogan!
I guess that’s step 1 complete.