.tv Tuvalu capital suffers from water shortage

my email to the tuvlun red cross came back as undeliverable.

from reports it sounds like there is relief, so our aid may not be crucial. still it would be a good gesture on the part of the domaining community aas a whole, esp the .tv'ers if we were to put together a contribution.

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garptrader said:

Does that differential just end up in Demand Media or Verisign's hands with some small portion going to the registrars or does the island benefit in any way from individual .TV registrations? Or do they only benefit from the contract which gives other parties the rights to sell .TV domains?

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As I understand it the nation of Tuvalu receives a minimum quarterly payment of 550k and is entitled to 10% of all revenue over a certain amount - offhand $50MM is the number that comes to mind. I dont belive they have ever rcvd anything more than the min.

Tuvalu population is about 10500; if .TV ever gains a wider acceptance they are sitting on a gold mine...

From Wikipedia...
Drinking water is mostly obtained from rainwater collected on roofs and stored in tanks; these systems are often poorly maintained...Tuvalu has...heavy rain from November to March...

VeriSign Help Tuvalu Petition

Where is VeriSign on this?

I began a petition to get VeriSign to earmark $3 from every .TV domain sold in the next year towards water conservation efforts in Tuvalu.

If we all signed and posted the petition widget on our websites, then engaged our social networks and the media... we can present a solution where everybody wins, including the extension.

Here is the petition... at Change.org

I like the auction idea a little better.
Everyone could give what they can afford to give rather than being forced to pay so much...imo

Hello Claude nice to see you around. Signed and Tweeted.

Thanks Ray.

Dot, perhaps your responding to another post, but you can do the auction and sign the petition... or whatever.

Also, VeriSign would "earmark" funds from .TV domain sales for the campaign... which would buy the low flow toilets, do the studies and produce the outreach campaign... which, ideally would include a video they could post to watch.tv.

Bottomline, they never really "pay" the Tuvalu Gov.,... unless they decide to do so.

the dot stop said:

I like the auction idea a little better.
Everyone could give what they can afford to give rather than being forced to pay so much...imo

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garptrader said:

Tuvalu population is about 10500; if .TV ever gains a wider acceptance they are sitting on a gold mine...

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that could be true - so long as the new contract terms were favorable. of course .tv could stay right where its at and if the new contract were favorable they could probably do a lot better than they are now.

the contract is up soon. i worry about what the new one will look like -ESPECIALLY if no one in the domain investing community has any input! i dont think verisign pays much attention to what we care about one way or the other.

i belive that domainers getting together now to help out could boost our standing in the eyes of tuvaluans. we dont have to, and we shouldnt, stop at just sending a few bucks. the more we get involved in helping them solve some of their serious issues he more willing they may be to listen to us when competition for that contract heats up.

the immenent crisis seems to have been alliviated and so lives are not on the line in this moment, but long-term these people are facing severe times ahead.

The contract is up 12/31/2016 not soon.

Claude created a petition so if people would like to do something they can start with that.

I doubt Tuvalu is paying attention to domainers, bottom line they want more money. So let's not make this spiritual, or political or any other notion. They want money. Verisign most likely will keep the contract imo since they have the experience running the back end of the registry and certainly others out there are no better at promoting an extension.

equity78 said:

The contract is up 12/31/2016 not soon.

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2016 not soon? I suppose that depends on your perspective. If you are holding .tv names for the sole purpose of flipping them for instant riches then every second the clock ticks seems like an eternity.

(BTW- I think I've mentioned a time or 2 that speculating in .tv names will probably not end well, at least not for most. Jim Holleran seems to be the one stand out exception but I dont see anyone else claiming to have made very much if anything from all the money and time they put into buying .tv)

I doubt Tuvalu is paying attention to domainers, bottom line they want more money. So let's not make this spiritual, or political or any other notion. They want money.

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Everyone wants money, or at least some degree of economic power. That not really saying anything is it?

Not to get terribly sidetracked but money these days is an inherently *political* object. I dont care what country your in, your money has the imprimature of your country on it.

It is also a *spiritual* object. Money is the ONE THING that people every where and of all kinds accept whole heartedly and (almost) without question. Temples to its power (banks/shopping malls/etc) are built and rebuilt everywhere. Its the religion everyone has without ever thinking they have a religion.

Now Back to the main line-

Whatever you want to make it into or not the fact remains that he people of Tuvalu are in a world of trouble. If the avg Tuvaluan doesnt pay any attention to domainers its likely because they dont know any. My whole point of this thread was to introduce the idea that we could and ought to take the initiative to make ourselves know to them and show them that we care.

Verisign most likely will keep the contract imo since they have the experience running the back end of the registry and certainly others out there are no better at promoting an extension.

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There are others proven capable of running the backend of a registry for a reasonable small sum. There's no way that registry functions ought to cost more than $1/name/year.

Promotion, marketing, sales on the other hand is whole nother kettle of fish and for those that can perform compensation is always due. But speaking of performance what new TLDs has Verisign ever promoted succesfully?

Some in Tuvalau are definitely NOT HAPPY with the curent arrangeent.

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=54541

Posted at 22:47 on 05 July, 2010 UTC

Tuvalu’s Finance Minister says the country isn’t getting enough money from the US company which bought the dot-tv internet domain off it.

The government sold its internet domain code in the late 1990s when the internet was in its infancy.

The domain is operated by DotTv, a VeriSign company, which pays Tuvalu about two million US dollars a year for use of the name.

Lotoala Metia feels VeriSign should be paying more for use of the name but says the company is playing hardball.

“We are negotiating but we are tied because of the agreement that was signed before us. We cannot negotiate for an increase until 2016. Counter offers have been made but they are not acceptable to the government of the day. So we have to stick to our guns now. They’re giving us peanuts.”

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Can everyone see the writing on the wall? This guy wants Verisign to "pay more" - which means higher .tv prices ultimately resulting in lower sales and less revenue. Naturally, if it goes this route, everyones investments in .tv will be worth even less than they already are.

Is this the way we want things to turn out??? What does Metia know about the world of domains? Does he have anyone advising him from the perspective of succesful investors?

It does not have to be this way. Collectively we could do something about it and I reiterate that the perfect way to start might be to simply try and find out how we can help the people there in there time(s) of need. Yes everyone here is about money but does that mean we cant act friendly to these people and try to establish some direct relationships? What if doing so ultimately means MORE MONEY in our pockets?

I commend Claude for taking some initiative to start a petition requesting Verisign pony up $3 per domain to help Tuvalu with its water shortage but I'm talking about something substantially different.

In any case I dont feel much like writing more about it thread as it seems, like almost all NP threads anymore, to more likely devolve into a bunch of mean spirited petty pissing contests than anything resembling constructive dialog.

Anyone who wants to be a positive part of the initiative I'm getting at is more than welcome to drop me a PM.

Cheers!

To answer your question no I don't think 2017 is a short period of time. I believe 5 years in Internet time is a long time.

Many have profitted from selling .tv names so to say Jim Holleran is the only one is just a foolish statement.

Tuvalu is not happy because they want more not that the deal was bad. They want more that's all. Verisign has not screwed Tuvalu. Tuvalu had a big cash payment when the Dot TV corp was purchased as they owned equity.

I think Tuvalu could conserve millions of gallons of water if they passed a mandatory "Whiz in the Ocean" law. They could make it a crime to pee in a urinal or toilet punishable by a fine of $25.00. Then use all fines collected to pay for new water systems.

This might sound extreme, but I really think it could work. (:talk

Could not rep you again DU but excellent post.

defaultuser said:

Using your logic I'm sure glad that I don't have any .GR/.ES/.IE/.PT domains. I'd have to donate a lot of money to show good will bailing them out, too..

Not to mention the number of starving in .IN/.CO.IN and .SO (not that anyone has those).

Perhaps we should all try and save Europe to make sure that our .EU investments are safe...

Determine your own level of interest in supporting the island of .TV - but please don't judge others(me) or we'll have to start calculating how many children we could have saved with the $1M USD you have tied up in "worthless" domain .TV domain names.

It's about Individualism.

I'll donate a .TV name if there ever is an auction - probably one of those ones that gets bids in the upper single digits.

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equity78 said:

To answer your question no I don't think 2017 is a short period of time. I believe 5 years in Internet time is a long time.

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it can be. i've said it here before that the real possibility exists that in 5-10 years domains themselves might become far less useful objects. i'm certain that at the very least in 15-20 years they will be worth about as much as toll-free numbers are today.

so if 5 years is a long time then how long is it going to take for the .tv to gain the kind of public recognition that everyone here talks about, the kind that would actually make .tv a viable tld to speculate in and make money? i hate to quote old snoopy but he was right when he said that people have been talking up .tv for years but it STILL hasnt amounted to very much. it seems like a couple of years since he was last here saying that - has anything substantially changed?

equity78 said:

Many have profitted from selling .tv names so to say Jim Holleran is the only one is just a foolish statement.

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i didnt exactly say that but whatever. personally i think many, if not most, claims of profit have been exaggerated to one degree or another - often untintentionally/consiously due to disregarding the full extent of costs and losses.

however this is definitely a topic for another thread.

equity78 said:

Tuvalu is not happy because they want more not that the deal was bad. They want more that's all. Verisign has not screwed Tuvalu. Tuvalu had a big cash payment when the Dot TV corp was purchased as they owned equity.

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whats wrong with wanting more? the question is can more actually be generated. i say yes because the tld has been mis-managed promotionally AND becasue the basic costs of running the tld are far less than what is accounted for in a 25/yr price tag.

something to keep in mind - tuvalu is a sovreign nation and they dont actually have to wait till 2016. it would be drastic and not without consequences to be sure but they could pull the contract any day they feel like it.

the real bottom line is it is in our interest to not only see to it that tuvalu gets the best deal possible without increasing our own costs but also see to it that the tld has the best chance of success possible. perhaps if 1) verisign were cut out as middleman and the basic registry function handed over to affilias or some other competant registry, and 2) the price of domains were lowered to about 8 or 10 dollars then this would not only lower our costs but also greatly increase the number of .tv registrations worldwide and hence increase public use and acceptance - a "virtuous cycle" effect.

you can bet your bottom dollar no one at verisign is proposing this.

whats more likely is some people in the tuvaluan govt are thinking "hey, why dont we just double (or triple) the price after 2016 then we will get a lot more money" or something close enough to that. and whats the most likely outcome if something like that passes?

or is 2017 just too far away to worry about it?

They are bathing and going to the bathroom in the ocean now... no fine needed, there is no water for bathrooms, or households for that matter.

Seven emergency water trucks are parked across the islands and people must fetch & carry. A news headline today said some are down to the last buckets and the desalinization plants won't be online until midweek.

Even with the plants, the problem is not solved. Diesel Fuel to run all but the one solar plant -around the clock, will come from where? And paid for by whom? They also must be maintained etc.

If all that gets worked out, most of the water from the plants will be flushed back into the sea anyway... as old toilets consume the most water.

The petition addresses the long term core issues of infrastructure and sustainable use by funding a conservation program.

Of course, Tuvalu could always take the extra $777K a year VeriSign offered if they renew the contract now.

I thought about making that the goal of the petition but decided asking VeriSign to step-up was the better way to go.

MicroGuy said:

I think Tuvalu could conserve millions of gallons of water if they passed a mandatory "Whiz in the Ocean" law. They could make it a crime to pee in a urinal or toilet punishable by a fine of $25.00. Then use all fines collected to pay for new water systems.

This might sound extreme, but I really think it could work. (:talk

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Fin nothing is wrong with them wanting more, that is natural. What I said was they got a fair deal. Tuvalu could pull the contract sure, it would be to their detriment. Verisign would be fine, most domainers would move on,they would be screwed.

The other thing Tuvalu needs to think about in wanting more, is in 2017 there will be a lot more competition. By that time at least 200 new extensions, the extensions that don't price properly will get left behind. Tuvalu only need to look to their neighbor Kirabati who has charged like $150 for any name not just premium.

Every domainer should have a plan, should own the tv.com for their top .tv names if they make sense. Ready to move and adapt at any time.

I think what Claude has done is the right thing to support. You could mention your plan if you like, are you thinking people here are going to donate substantial money to Tuvalu ? Every registration helps.

My point was not that you don't help them, but that help imo will not affect how they renew their contract. Look Verisign should help them, Verisign actually is larger than the country itself.

equity78 said:

...What I said was they got a fair deal. Tuvalu could pull the contract sure, it would be to their detriment. Verisign would be fine, most domainers would move on,they would be screwed.

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i'm not sure we'd necessarily be screwed. quite possibly yes however it would hinge on what happened immediately after. the issue of concern to domainers is pretty much the same whether we're talking about a contract renewal effective in 2017 or an immediate repudiation: what will be the new prices/terms?

i do not belive for a minute that a renewal with verisign will be good for domainers, the extention, or tuvalu. renegotiations are very likely to result in an even worse situation than we've had. my hope is that new terms can be established that benefit us all.

verisign doesnt have to be eliminated but it probably wouldnt hurt. i'm really not sure why you are in their corner on this - it ought to be obvious to someone like yourself that they have performed miserably from the get go. what rational basis is there for a belief that things will ever get better under verisign?

i dont know a lot of things but i am absolutely sure of one thing: if we dont take the initiative in some way to let the right people know how we feel, if we dont do something to gain a voice, then our concerns will remain unheard and action will be taken without our input. theres too much on the line to just let that happen.

unless someone has access to a plane and can airlift the right equipment right now there isnt much we could do that would have an immediate effect. however, now that we are more aware of the situation there we could plan to take some action in the near future.

let me say this once again, the simple act of extending our hand to the people, directly, in their time of need could result in many doors being opened for us down the road. i'm not sure why you disagree but i'm willing to listen to your argument against if you have one.

I think Verisign is a secure company, I know they are lacking on the promotion side, and I have criticized Verisign many a time with their promotion of .tv. I am not a stockholder either. I just never saw them as evil as some domainers do. Of course they got a sweetheart deal with .com and .net but there is not much you or I can do about that. I think Verisign provides stability on the back end.

Secondly I am not sure who would do a better job, except for Loria Anne Wardi from .co and ICM seems to be sharp with promotion.

On the doors being open, its not disagreeing but more I just think people will take and then when the contract comes up they will just want to take again and not really care that we extended our hand.

I once worked with non profits and a local chapter of the American Heart Association told me that they were not concerned with $50 donations she was only concerned with corporate sponsorships and I remember thinking, if only all those people who contribute $25 or $50 heard that what would they think ? So I guess that is where some of my pessimism comes from. I think everyone here has helped Tuvalu just by supporting the extension, if they need more help sure. Let's define it, but I would like to hear who you think would be a better complete solution for running the extension ? I am not so much pro Verisign as wondering who would do better ?

This thread started as a call to action to help the poor inhabitants of the small Pacific Islands. It ended up being a discussion on whether Verisign is the best company to handle the registry... becoming clearer where the priorities lay.

Most domainers don't have that much on the line in .TV - a few domains here and there. Even if people had 500 TV domains that's a total investment of $10,000 even if they hadn't sold any to offset that. If people that have invested $100,000s or $1,000,000 have a concern? Go have an island meet-up, share some daiquiries and discuss amongst yourselves. As far as I can tell, pretty much all the registries are exactly the same - I'm not sure where Afilias is better than Neustar is better than Verisign.

I find it disingenuous that you come to a forum and speak "the end is nigh" of .TV while you are picking up more backorders than just about anyone. You're a smart guy, that's clear, but you're not fooling anyone with your .TV is a disastrous investment routine. It's total BS as far as I'm concerned.

As for Jim? I know he's doing well because while he doesn't post here too much anymore he has spent a great deal of time on blogs telling everyone that he "has the best .TV portfolio in the world" and has been investing since 2000 and in the business since 1997 and owns.... list of names here that usually includes Spain.TV.

As for the Verisign sucks argument?

I've seen exactly the same types of posts in the .US and .MOBI forums. If only Neustar would help.. if only Afilias would do more. They just don't care about marketing the extension!

Here's the reality - they don't care and they don't need to. They don't make one dime of the profit you make when you sell a domain for more than you paid for it. Simple. That said, Watch.TV is far ahead of any .US/.ME thing I know about a and .CO is still in its honeymoon period. They spent $10M on advertising last year - so much for your $1 / name / year.

But here's something similar to the challenge we gave in the .US forum.

Rather than come in here and tell us that we need to help .TV and help Tuvalu understand .TV etc. Present a realistic plan of action. If you can come up with a simple 5-10 point plan that people can follow and recognize as being positive.. then maybe you will get something out of it.

Pontificating and saying we should reach out and do something? Means nothing.

Do you have any ideas outside of sending them a scented heart-shaped letter?

i dont see them as evil. distracted by more important business (to them) than .tv to be sure. incompetent marketers. maybe greedy.

with all the new tld's and cctld's that have come online in 10 years it seems apparent that they are not seen as the go to guys for operating new domains. just have a look at the other tld's they run:

.jobs
.name
.cc
.net
.com

short list, eh? and except for .com are any of these a success?

operating a stable registry is not a brand new gig. nuestar and afilias have been behind major tld's going on 10 years now and i know there are other experienced and competant registry operators out there as well - dont have all there names together but that wouldnt take but a few days to ferret out.

some tld registries are operated behind the scenes by one of these companies as contractors for a seperate marketing driven company that only exists for promoting that tld. yeasr ago i made inquiries along these lines and the prices quoted for operating the registry backend was about a buck. i dont know what it would be now but i imagine its still around a buck. even if its twice that it would seem theres a lot room to reduce prices on .tv and still have plenty left over for the marketing, the registrars, and for tuvalu.

now as far as the efforts of helping out being in vain (contract-wise), well thats a risk i suppose. as long as some real good was done then it would be hard to feel bad about it.

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defaultuser said:

I find it disingenuous that you come to a forum and speak "the end is nigh" of .TV while you are picking up more backorders than just about anyone. You're a smart guy, that's clear, but you're not fooling anyone with your .TV is a disastrous investment routine. It's total BS as far as I'm concerned.

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i dont think i'm picking up more b/o than just about anyone. i'm getting a few to be sure (many are actually legacy names i dropped) and almost all are geos. i have a plan for geos. occasionally i get something else that i think will either bring in traffic or will make a great brand.

but what i'm not doing is buying on speculation that resale prices will rise and i'll make green on teh flip. i dont buy for resale. i think that most of those who try this in .tv will either lose money or will at least not make nearly as much as they could if they focused on .com.

as far as the rest i think i've been clear on my feelings toward verisign. i'm not here to whine i'm here to talk about serious issues.

one thing i think has been clearly established - and something that you willfully ignore and thus detract from the dialog- is that the registry functions and the marketing functions are 2 seperable fuctions. i belive the $1/yr figure is spot on when it comes to the cost of back-end functions but if you have better information to share it would be welcome. jumping in and dismissing that figure becasue verisign allegedly spent $10mm on advertising does not cut it.

however if they did actually spend $10 million then i think that given the results it only reinforces what i've been saying- they are incompetant marketers.

seriously, what money needs to be spent promoting a tld? there are some costs attributable to sales/marketing/promo to be sure but a good domain sells itself without very much help. people will want .tv names when they see their competitors, suppliers, customers, friens, associates, etc using them. i think people are also price sensative, unreasonably so in many respects, when it comes to domains and for the longest time are totally turned off to the prospect of paying 50 or 39 or even 24 a year. the premium pricing strategy has backfired and yet they still do not see it. too bad for them, too bad for tuvavlu and too bad for us.

finster said:

i dont think i'm picking up more b/o than just about anyone. i'm getting a few to be sure and almost all are geos. i have a plan for geos. occasionally i get something else that i think will either bring in traffic or will make a great brand.

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Remove the "more than just about anyone" and leave it at the "I don't understand the end is night approach to .TV while still investing."

I apologize if you are in fact a nice guy with concern for all; however, not knowing you personally I have to assume that the act or words is not entirely selfless. This is my flaw to work on, not yours. From an external view it seems (and I am not alone) that you are throwing a little market scare into one of the few places (NP) where .TV investment is not mocked.

I hope one day to see your plan for GEOs as you've mentioned them frequently. I don't know what you plan to do or how you could possibly do it in the 5 year window that you say exists. I do wish you luck and I hope that you share it with us here as soon as you get something off the ground. You've never shared more than this grandiose plan and failure for other .TV investors.

Anyway, seeing some people that are developing in this space, I think it's clear how hard this is even in hyper-local markets so I am interested in your plan if your plan is in fact more than selling names at a profit.

finster said:

you know he's making money because he say he is? interesting.

and he does say he has the best .tv portfolio in the world a lot so it must be true.

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I was being sarcastic My point being that just because someone says they are doing great doesn't mean anything more than someone who doesn't say they are doing great.

I can find you people that are have made money, are making money, have lost money, are losing money and everything in between. I can find you investors with names, developers with names, and people with no plan (that's me) .

What is true? If you gave me $350 and said make money with it in domains - I'm pretty sure I wouldn't start with .TV (like I did) again. Yes, .com is easier, I believe. That said, I'm fairly confident that you could recoup most of your investment with extra if you divested yourself of it in a controlled manner.

Total aside:
I have wondered for some time what you will do with Balti.TV. It's my favorite Fin name to track.

finster said:

between all the bs you've managed to actually make a decent point there.

but rather than "me" coming up with "my plan" why dont we all agree not to be a-holes (i'm not saying that any one here is or has been an a-hole) and come up with a plan together.

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I'm an a-hole I freely admit it - I'm certainly not the only one. I'm glad you found one worthy point, though.

I do apologize for coming off rather ass-hattish - some days I am worse than others and today Is one of those days. I don't know why - well I do but it's irrelevant - some days I'm mentally challenged.

finster said:

i would say that we might consider forming a non-profit corporation or maybe, if that proves to be too much effort, find an existing 501c3 to act as a sponsor.

do you have any positive ideas or points to present?

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A non-profit is not something that can easily be managed by remote parties - there are strict rules, regulations and operating parameters that need to be met and clearly the arguments would begin early on as the people involved would be so differently invested. I don't think you'd ever get a quorum, let alone an approved budget. I'm also not sure what you think the mission would be for a non-profit.

I don't think any of us has the means to compete with Verisign and bid for the contract.

My plan would likely cause as much damage as good short term (and may be your non-profit plan).

That is - create a visible focus group - get the attention of some people/domainers/officials and indicate that the only way for TV contract negotiations to yield top results is for full disclosure of .TV in terms of revenues, registrations, etc. The group could explain the need to get the extension back at GoDaddy along with reorganizing the premium structure and so forth.

In other words - get someone to force transparency of contract, transparency of data and let us have access to dissect the numbers. Tuvalu could do this as they own .TV. They should be easily able to get the information needed.

We could do this lobbying through a dedicated Tuvalu Channel Website!

This is similar to groups that were asking for transparency into the Govt's TARP program. You will find them on sites like Kickstart.com

ONE CAVEAT IS THAT ALL MUST BE FROM A NON-DOMAINER PERSPECTIVE.

It may be that the numbers dictate $50 renewals - you'd have to be able to provide numbers that show you aren't influenced by your holdings. It is this disparity in portfolios that will ultimately make almost all of these ideas a waste of time. My names are worth 1/100,000 of yours.. and so are many... so it all starts with a position of distrust.

Point? This distrust is what we feel for Verisign, Neustar, COINTernet, ICANN etc etc.

Nothing changes. Sadly.

I don't have time or interest to do this unless there is a significant force willing to contribute but it's the only viable approach I see. You, with your knowledge of the $1 a name platform and contacts would be a great candidate to start it up. 1 Vote from me.

I may not post much more on this thread because I don't much like being an asshole - and I like even less having to apologize for it when I feel less like one.

So there you have it.

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finster said:

however if they did actually spend $10 million then i think that given the results it only reinforces what i've been saying- they are incompetant marketers.

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That was COINTERNET marketing .CO first year. Sorry that wasn't clear. People say what a great job .CO was doing but it will be short lived as the honeymoon period ends.

What I find amusing:
DOMAINERS hate $22 renewals it's too expensive.
DOMAINERS think a $500 offer on a year old name is lowball.

This is why I think domainers are the wrong people to drive any initiative. We are NOT motivated to drive money, water, food, income to people of an island most can't find on a map. Domainers are like low-class, scumbag registries

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finster said:

one thing i think has been clearly established - and something that you willfully ignore and thus detract from the dialog- is that the registry functions and the marketing functions are 2 seperable fuctions. i belive the $1/yr figure is spot on when it comes to the cost of back-end functions but if you have better information to share it would be welcome. jumping in and dismissing that figure becasue verisign allegedly spent $10mm on advertising does not cut it.

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Neustar showed $5 m additional REVENUE from .CO last year. That's a new contract, new infrastructure build, new API function and over 600,000 names. I don't know what liability, taxation, or resource costs are.. but that's not a lot of room for maneuvering based on corporate numbers I know.

If Neustar has built a highly scalable product then a $1 name / year may be reasonable if you are talking about managed names (i.e. under control at any one time vs new registrations)

I don't think .TV has much more than 1,500,000 names but that's a WAG (Wild Ass Guess). I dont know many operations of size that run of $1,500,000 as hard as that is to believe.

That said - I've seen the salaries of Neustar executives and ICANN members and it's CRAZY how much money they make.