The domain name .tv is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Tuvalu. The domain name is popular, and thus economically valuable, because TV also happens to be an abbreviation of the word television.
 | |
| Introduced | 1996 |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
| Status | Active |
| Registry | GoDaddy Registry |
| Sponsor | Government of Tuvalu |
| Intended use | Entities connected with Tuvalu |
| Actual use | Marketed commercially for use in television (TV) or video-related sites; can be registered and used for any purpose; little use in Tuvalu |
| Registration restrictions | None |
| Structure | Direct second-level registrations are allowed; some second-level domains such as gov.tv are reserved for third-level domains representing entities in Tuvalu |
| Dispute policies | UDRP |
| Registry website | turnon.tv |
In 1998, the government of Tuvalu sought to capitalize on the .tv suffix,[1] later signing with the International Telecommunication Union, Information.CA, Idealab, Verisign, and currently GoDaddy to expand the domain.[2][3][4] Except for reserved names like com.tv, net.tv, org.tv and others, anyone may register second-level domains under .tv. By 2019, 8.4% of the revenue of the government of Tuvalu came from .tv royalties,[5] with hundreds of thousands of websites registered under the domain. Google treats .tv as a generic top-level domain (gTLD) because "users and website owners frequently see [the domain] as being more generic than country targeted."[6]
History
editBackground and creation
editAs a small country, Tuvalu gained a small amount of money. The government later found the .tv domain.[7][8]
The domain was later issued by the government in the 80s. Following the implementation, the government of Tuvalu cooperated with the International Telecommunication Union to find a marketing partner for the domain. In 1998, the .tv Corporation was established as the exclusive .tv domain registrar under the management of Information.CA of Toronto, which agreed to pay US$50 million upfront to manage and market .tv registrations until 2048.[7] Following delays in payment, in 1999, the contract was reassigned to the California-based Idealab, which agreed to pay $12.5 million of the $50 million upfront and the remainder in $1 million quarterly payments over a 10-year licensing contract. Following a $5 million quarterly payment in January 2000, the company's subsequent poor financial performance resulted in the transfer of $3 million in preferred .tv stock to the government of Tuvalu in exchange for waiving three quarterly payments.[2]
Marketing and use
edit
On 31 December 2001, the company was acquired by Verisign for $45 million, including $10 million for Tuvalu's $3 million stake in the company.[3] Quarterly payments were renegotiated from $1 million to $550,000 and extended to last until 2011.[2] On 19 March 2010, Verisign reduced .tv registration fees to encourage widespread adoption of the domain. In 2011, Verisign renewed its contract with the government of Tuvalu to manage .tv registrations through 2021.[3]
In 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch for $1 billion, making it the first .tv website to achieve unicorn status. The government of Tuvalu subsequently renegotiated its contract with Verisign, resulting in an increase in yearly payments to Tuvalu around $5 million, a 1/12th of the nation's annual gross national income (GNI) at the time.[8]
As Verisign opted not to renew its contract, on 14 December 2021, GoDaddy signed a contract with the government of Tuvalu to manage .tv registrations, increasing yearly payments to the government of Tuvalu to $10 million.[4][9] In 2023, an agreement between the Government of Tuvalu and the GoDaddy Company outsourced the marketing, sales, promotion and branding of the .tv domain to the Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation, which established a .tv Unit.[10]
Benefits
editIn 2019, the island of Tuvalu gained an estimated $5.5 million from the domain, along with other business practices like fishing.[5] Proceedings from .tv domain registrations are used to fund the Tuvaluan government's Future Now Project (Tuvaluan: Te Ataeao Nei), which provides mitigation plans for infrastructure and maritime boundaries affected by climate change, digitization of cultural heritage and maintenance of the domain and related intellectual property's active status.[11][12]
Content stations
editWebsites with the .tv domain often feature video content for specific brands or firms. The domain contains the sites of news services, including Fox News and MSNBC. It also includes streaming services such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube. The domain also contains the website Twitch.[8]
co.tv
editIn July 2011, Google removed .co.tv websites from its search results due to their extensive use by website scammers. This had no impact on other .tv websites.[13] According to Lucian Constantin at Softpedia, "CO.TV is a free domain provider that is obviously being abused by the people behind this campaign. All of the rogue domains used are hosted on the same IP address."[14]
Climate change
editThe island state of Tuvalu's long-term habitability is threatened by climate change, with the island being barely above sea level.[15] In response to the question of what would happen if a nation-state would cease to exist, the ICANN board stated: "If the code element is removed, the ccTLD would be eligible for retirement. Reason for removal is not of relevance."[16] This means that the top-level domain would be dissolved if the country were to disappear.[17]
References
edit- ^ "Tiny Tuvalu is .tv centre". BBC. 11 August 1998. Archived from the original on 18 January 2023. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
- ^ a b c Conway, James M. (2015). "Entrepreneurship, Tuvalu, development and .tv: a response" (PDF). Island Studies Journal. 10 (2): 229–252. doi:10.24043/isj.329. S2CID 248650961. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
- ^ a b c Berkens, Michael (25 February 2012). "VeriSign renews contract with Tuvalu to run .TV registry through 2021". The Domains. Archived from the original on 8 July 2024. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
- ^ a b "GoDaddy wins contract to run .TV, Verisign didn't bid for renewal". domainnamewire.com. 14 December 2021. Archived from the original on 27 May 2024. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
- ^ a b Toafa, Maatia. "Government of Tuvalu 2019 National Budget" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 April 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
- ^ "Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites". Archived from the original on 5 October 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ^ a b Ogden, M. R. (1999). "Islands on the Internet". The Contemporary Pacific. 11 (2): 454–455. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 June 2024.
- ^ a b c Lee, Alexander (23 December 2019). "Tuvalu is a tiny island nation of 11,000 people. It's cashing in thanks to Twitch". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
- ^ "Tuvalu cashes in on its coveted internet domain name amid rise in online streaming". theworld.org. 22 January 2022. Archived from the original on 18 April 2024. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
- ^ ".tv Unit at Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation". Department of Foreign Affairs - Government of Tuvalu. 13 December 2023. Archived from the original on 5 January 2024. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
- ^ "What is a .TV Domain?". .TV. Godaddy Registry. Archived from the original on 6 January 2024. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
- ^ "Future Now Project". Department of Foreign Affairs, Government of Tuvalu. Archived from the original on 7 January 2024. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
- ^ "Google blocks .co.cc, attackers are now using .co.tv". 6 July 2011. Archived from the original on 21 February 2024.
- ^ Constantin, Lucian (11 June 2011). "CO.TV Free Domain Provider Abused in Google News BHSEO Campaign". Archived from the original on 24 April 2023.
- ^ "Tuvalu is slowly disappearing. What happens when its land is gone?". Environment. 22 August 2024. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
- ^ "Proposed Policy for the Retirement of ccTLDs" (PDF). ICANN. 17 September 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 January 2023.
- ^ "Long-term future of .tv domain uncertain". SIDN. 14 October 2021. Archived from the original on 21 April 2024.
External links
edit- "I want my own .tv". Salon.com. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2007.
- "Massive.tv: An Online Storytelling Lab For College Students". psfk.com. 21 September 2010. Archived from the original on 4 April 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2011.