.tv Registrars limiting .TV renewal term?

[MicroGuy]

This question has been bugging me lately and I'm hoping to get an answer soon: How can registrars offer 10-year renewals on .TV when the Verisign contract with Tuvalu expires years earlier?

It would be great to get an official response from a .TV registrar. I will open a trouble ticket with enom today through my reseller interface and let eveyone know if they reply.

UPDATE: I have opened the following ticket with enom and will report once they have responded:

Posted under Category: ChannelME.tv Questions

Ticket #080828-000075

Dear Support:

I have a customer that wants to develop a website and would like to register his .TV domain for 10 years. Before I recommend this to my client, I would like an official response to the following question:

How can enom and other registrars offer 10-year renewals on .TV domains when the Verisign contract with Tuvalu expires years earlier?

This is a very important question that myself and many other .TV enthusiasts would like answered.

Sincerely,
Greg.

 

[DomainMayhem.com]

Wow, great observation! I'm wondering how they're going to defend this huge blunder.

 

[cityforums.com]

Great initiative Greg ...

Enom ignored my last email ... talk about customer service

hope you get an answer.

 

[lzy]

It would be interesting to see how they reply. :o

 

[alex_d]

I'll also be very interested in their reply ( if they do send you one !! )

 

[jlc]

I am totally confused.

"The .tv Corporation" owns the .tv cctld, which is privately held by Verisign. Tuvalu owns 20% of "The .tv Corporation". Could it be that there is no lease, that at the end of the terms Tuvalu will be paid in full and only have their 20%?

JLC,

for more info Google "the .tv corporation"

 

[MicroGuy]

 

[equity78]

NO JLC The Island nation of TUVALU owns .tv and Verisign in 2001 got the rights to market it for 15 years. They bought the .tv corporation not the actual cctld.

Greg I believe they would be thrilled with as many regs as possible, its not like the extension would halt if Tuvalu said we will not work with Verisign. It would probably just mean new registrations would be under a new agreement if there were one but it will be interesting to see what ENOM says about the registration period.

 

[MicroGuy]

It would probably just mean new registrations would be under a new agreement if there were one....

I've made it to 43 years of age and one lesson that I've learned over the years is "probably" usually comes back to bite you in the ***. :D

 

[equity78]

What I mean Greg is the contract is to 2016 what about people in 2015 who reg for two years, I do not believe anyone would void the second year. But it will be interesting to hear what ENOM says about it, actually Verisign would be more interesting.

 

[jlc]

NO JLC The Island nation of TUVALU owns .tv and Verisign in 2001 got the rights to market it for 15 years. They bought the .tv corporation not the actual cctld.

Okay, makes no sense to me!

Maybe this answers it?

http://www.dottvnation.tv/2008/08/the-verisigntuv.html

JLC

 

[equity78]

I run DotTVnation.tv so I would say it makes sense. No country sells the CCTLD, they sell the rights to market it, promote it. That's all I am saying, Greg is worried about a 10 year reg going to 2018 and what if TUVALU gives the rights to someone else and the reg fee is $200 a year for any domain like a .md or .tm or .ki which is $1295 a year no need to be a premium registration.

 

[jlc]

I run DotTVnation.tv

Don't I feel stupid! Sorry, didn't know that. I should have.

It still doesn't make sense to me. The dot tv corp had a deal for indefinately and verisign bought the rights for only 15 years when they bought out the .tv corp?

I am missing something.

JLC

 

[equity78]

NO prob JLC I thought it was funny, I was going to say we all know the guy at DotTVnation.tv is an idiot.

But seriously the Original Dot TV corp had til 2012 not indefinitely. Verisign got it til 2016.

 

[TLDnetworks]

This question has been bugging me lately and I'm hoping to get an answer soon: How can registrars offer 10-year renewals on .TV when the Verisign contract with Tuvalu expires years earlier?

It would be great to get an official response from a .TV registrar. I will open a trouble ticket with enom today through my reseller interface and let eveyone know if they reply.


Posted under Category: ChannelME.tv Questions

Ticket #080828-000075

Dear Support:

I have a customer that wants to develop a website and would like to register his .TV domain for 10 years. Before I recommend this to my client, I would like an official response to the following question:

How can enom and other registrars offer 10-year renewals on .TV domains when the Verisign contract with Tuvalu expires years earlier?

This is a very important question that myself and many other .TV enthusiasts would like answered.

Sincerely,
Greg.

So Greg,
Have you sent the same support ticket regarding your .com's? That contract runs out in 4 years....

In case you need further clarification;
http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=B041217E-9AFC-4E5E-92D6-B6022437F3EE

 

[MicroGuy]

Don't I feel stupid! Sorry, didn't know that. I should have.

It still doesn't make sense to me. The dot tv corp had a deal for indefinately and verisign bought the rights for only 15 years when they bought out the .tv corp?

I am missing something.

JLC

I'll try to explain. The domain ".TV" is the ccTLD assigned to the Country of Tuvalu. Verisign has a deal with Tuvalu that is "Finite". At the end of the deal, Tuvalu can make another deal, or they may decide to manage the domain on their own. They may decide to raise renewals to $500/Yr or more.

I think it's almost certain they will raise the price significantly. After all, their island is sinking, and by then thousands of website owners will be faced with either keeping their domain name or using another extension. In other words, Tuvlau will have everyone by the *****.

Before anyone makes longterm .TV plans, they need to consider these facts. IMO.

 

[TheBulldog]

I'll take a shot at this.......

I will make two predictions, one of which will be correct.

1) You will get NO response.
or
2) You will get a response that doesn't pointedly address your question with a specific answer that will make you feel like you have learned anything other than what has been said already.

 

[equity78]

Probably right Bulldog, they are clueless, I was on the phone with them mentioning drop lists and premium renewals. OK the woman is clueless, she puts in a ticket, they say you can only get renewal info on your own domain. I say ahead.tv has all info, Technical Support gets back, "Yeah we don't know how Ahead.tv has our info."

Well that is a good point TLD, Verisign contract to 2012 on .com you can reg for 10 years.

VeriSign would also have to continue to offer 10-year registrations, so buyers can lock-in their price. The company would also be banned from "tying" its registration services to any of its other products, Twomey said.

 

[Jackie]

Yesterday night, I went on to Verisign's site and I clicked on the "Live Chat" to talk to one of their representatives. The forum posts about the contract with Verisign expiring in 2016 and the possibility of renewals (of regular .tv domains) going up to insane amounts at the will of Tuvalu/a greedy corporation greatly alarms me about the .TV extension.

Actually, I am even worried that Verisign will become greedy and start raising renewal prices at will, before their contract with Tuvalu runs out. This is something that's really backward about the way Domain Extensions are managed right now. :imho if you let people from around the world register domains in your TLD, then it becomes a public resource. The domain owners need to have more of a say in how the TLDs they own domains in are managed, especially in major decisions like who the contract to run the TLD is assigned to, and this is not just a problem about ccTLDs like .TV, but also a problem with gTLDs like .com, .net (I don't trust ICANN to look out for us).

Well, I went on the Live Chat and here is my conversation with them.

Please wait while we find a representative to assist you.
You have been connected to Muhammad .
Muhammad : Hello. How may I assist you?
me: May I get more information about Verisign's .TV domain offering to registrars?
me: I would like to know the wholesale price that registrars are paying to Verisign for each .TV registration that is done for a customer.
me: Hello?
Muhammad : Unfortunately we can not provide you with that information unless you are a accredited registrar with Verisign. We charge all the registrar the same price
me: That's fine.
me: I am wondering though, whether this price charged to registrars will stay constant throughout the years?
Muhammad : We are not aware of any price change for .TV domains in near future . But this information is as of today. Management might change it.
me: If it is subject to change, is their a maximum amount of change that is regulated by Verisign's agreements?
Muhammad : again I apologize. I can not disclose this kind of information unless you are a .TV registrar
Muhammad : Are you there?
Muhammad : This session has been idle for a few minutes. Do you still need me to keep this chat conversation open for you?
Muhammad : I am not receiving any response from you. If you require further assistance with this issue, please open another live chat session. Thank you for using VeriSign Technical Support Chat . Have a great day!
me: yes
Muhammad : Is there anything else I can help you with today?
me: I want to know something else
me: Actually, I question your policy
me: that you are allowed to raise prices at will...
me: How are registrants who own domain names protected from unreasonable price increases in their renewal costs?
Muhammad : This is the customer service for Registrars. I can not comment on our policy. If you want you can give me you email address with specific question. I will have someone from management to answer your policy related question.
me: Yes, would you please provide me that email address
Muhammad : If you give me your email address then I can pass to our management and they will respond to you
me: I will be happy to do that.
me: Please take down my email address...
me: tvtld.com[at]gmail[.]com - please note the dot in the email address
Muhammad : and do you have any specific question regarding our policy?
Muhammad : please provide your name also
me: I just want to know that if Verisign is allowed to adjust .TV prices, how is the hard work of current registrants protected from unreasonable increases in renewal fees charged at the registry level.
me: My names is Jackie Liu.
me: As well
me: please pass this message on to management
me: What are the plans for the continued management for the .TV tld after Verisign's contract with the island nation Tuvalu expires in 2016?
me: How will it affect registrants at that point?
Muhammad : I will definitely pass to the Management

 

[hullswingerscom]

i will go to Tuvlau for a holiday next year and jump up and down on the beach see
if it feels like it sinking.