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Verisign
Blows Up the .TV Business Model - Prices Slashed on
Premium Domains and Renewal Fees Dropped to Standard
Rates for New Registrants
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Verisign,
who operates the .TV registry
dropped a bomb over night - but it was a smart
bomb, one that should sow dividends rather
than destruction for the registry, registrars
and new .TV registrants (it may however be a different
story for existing .TV
"premium" registrants |
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-
something we'll address in a moment). As most of
you know, .TV domains have been unique (in my
opinion, in a bad way) in that terms the
registry deemed to be "premium"
names carried hefty price tags and far
worse, those same prices had to be paid every
year when the domains came up for
renewal. |
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That
all changed after midnight last night for people who
register premium .TV domains starting today (Macrh 19).
For starters, Verisign slashed the prices for every
"premium" domain in their inventory, a change
that affected more than 22,000 names. You can
download the entire list of repriced domains from this
page at EnomCentral.com (click on the link
titled "Download Premium .TV List" to the
right of the Search box). I
think of even more importance is the registry decision
to stop charging inflated renewal prices year after
year. Instead, anyone who registers a premium name from
this point forward will pay just the standard renewal
fee that their registrar charges for non-premium
domain names. That makes the .TV proposition a much more
compelling one for developers and potential
investors alike.
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Now,
I mentioned in the first paragraph that current
holders of premium .TV domains may not be as
cheerful about today's announcement as others
because those who registered their names prior
to March 19 not only paid a higher price but apparently
will continue to be stuck paying that same high
price over and over again at renewal
time. I don't really see how that policy will be
able to stand in the long run. Those early
adopters should be rewarded with the same
break at
renewal
time that the premium buyers who came long after
them are getting now. |
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Demand
Media VP Chris Sheridan |
I'll
be surprised if Verisign doesn't extend equal
treatment to those older registrants in the
near future. Aside from that sticky wicket,
I like Verisign's new direction with .TV and
expect it to give the extension a nice
boost.
Chris Sheridan,
a VP with Demand Media (the parent company
of one of the biggest .tv registrars, eNom.tv)
likes it too. He said "The updated pricing
structure for .TV premium domains is a great
response to the market. We expect that
significantly more customers will now enter the
.TV market, and that existing .TV customers will
add names to their portfolios. As such,
these changes mark an extremely positive and
welcomed step in the right direction for the .TV
community."
You can read more
about eNom's take on the new .TV policy in a press
release they put out soon after the
news broke. |
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