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VeriSign Buys .tv

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the throat-singers-need-not-apply dept.

Mike Damm writes: "As everyone is so worried about Microsoft these days, another monopoly is slipping through the cracks. VeriSign has paid the country of Tuvalu $45 million in cash for The .TV Corporation, as stated by this press release. Same great service, different obscure TLD!"

7 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. Re:How many of these new domains? by renehollan · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Each country has it's own top-level two character domain name. Then there are the historical non-national (but generally US-centric) .com, .org, .gov, .mil, .arpa, .int.

    .int is interesting, as it is designed for multi- and inter-national organizations. The best known .int subdomain is tpc.int. which is used to map domain names to phones (typically, with fax machines).

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    You could've hired me.
  2. I thought this idiocy was over... by joshamania · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Didn't anyone tell Verisign that the dot com bubble burst? What? Do they expect to get $10 million a piece from NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and CNN and run away with a $5 million profit? I don't get it. IIRC, domain speculation has pretty much gone bust too, and this seems to be that...

    1. Re:I thought this idiocy was over... by ergo98 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You know the implosion after the Internet explosion has fooled a lot of people in thinking that there is NO money on the net: In reality there are billions. If CBS figures that Joe Sixpack will have a easier time remembering survivor.tv, then they'll poney up the money for it. There are billions of dollars circling the globe daily for generally trivial things, so a logical URL doesn't seem that bizarre.

  3. What about the country itself by Ryu2 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I believe that one of the conditions that Tuvalu originally gave Verisign, Network Solutions, or whatever it was called back then, for the right to sell .tv names was that the Tuvalu govt would get some royalties to be put back towards developing Tuvalu's own Internet/IT infrastructure.

    Is this $45 million a one time lump sum, and is so, does this mean that Tuvalu itself has completely given up ownership of its domain (so if a Tuvalu company wanted to register, they'd have to go through Verisign like everyone else?)

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  4. Re: At least... by Jonathunder · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Tuvalu is a democracy. Queen Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch, represented by a governor general, who has mostly ceremonial power. Actual power is in an elected council and prime minister.

    Tuvalu is also quite poor; a group of sandy islands with few natural resorces and little industry. The gov't gets much of its money from selling stamps and coins. And now, from selling its TLD for $45 million. Great deal for them, probably.

  5. Re:How many of these new domains? by renehollan · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I couldn't believe people would buy that line of crap.

    "There's a sucker born every minute" -- P. T. Barnum, I believe.

    Sometimes I think the reason most smart people don't get rich selling, as you say, crap, to the dummies, is that most smart people can't imagine anyone that stupid. Sadly, such people exist. Frighteningly, they vote.

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    You could've hired me.
  6. Re:It was interesting in it's time..... by saridder · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I remember the exact same article. The guy teamed up with them to get exclusive marketing and registration rights to the .tv TLD and he would share the profits with them. I never thought it would fly.

    There's still .fm .am out there Fromosia (sp?) and some other place.

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