.tv Watch.tv

[SKG]

I made a post on watch.tv over a day ago. I wish I would have kept a copy to repost here for all to read. As of today, it is still pending moderation. I suspect moderation is equivalent to censor or maybe it is just me, has anyone else's post been in limbo? I made a post to combat the following statement made by Verisign, "the new pricing model is geared towards stimulating new interest and registrations, creating buzz and driving awareness of .tv as the address for online video – all things we believe will grow the value of the .tv brand and ultimately help increase the value of your premium .tv domain name portfolio."
Prior to this statement made by Verisign, our very own Antonis made a lengthy post carefully detailing the current state of confusion. I commend him for taking the time to write such a thought out post. Nobody answered him. Maybe a buzz is being created by keeping things hush? How they can think that by furthering mass confusion helps increase premium .tv domain name portfolios is beyond me.

One thing is for sure, the old saying "the customer is always right," did not happen by accident. Business thru Marketing can drive a consumer to products but eventually it is the consumer that will drive the business upwards or downwards, imo. Like others, I am a consumer and I have questions that need attention. I do not need cheerleading, I need facts and like the rest of you, pay enough to deserve an answer. Maybe some will get an answer, maybe some will not.

I hope my post gets approved and I encourage all of you to speak your mind so they hear us and not ignore us. I cannot imagine any business not willing to answer a customer's question, can you?

By the way, where are you buying your .tv's lately? Where are you not buying?:bingo:

 

[equity78]

Yes other posts are moderated too and not been posted.

I just posted this on Watch.tv

Why do you people continue to avoid the question ?
If you think that someone paying $4000 for Orlando.tv believes that now you gave someone else the ability to buy Austria for $630 and no premium renewal is a good thing. Then either you are stupid, or you are being dishonest.

Name.com let people see what names would be if they were dropped of course they have taken that down. No doubt being pressured by Verisign or Enom.

Who is responsible for the older premiums ? Verisign or Enom ? IF you are not responsible you should say so, that way only one company is not boycotted.

This matter is not going to be left alone, it will be taken to the mainstream press.

Some have hinted at organized protests.

So someone should have the sense to tell people what is going on for real.

I am sure this will be moderated forever, no problem, it will be posted on Namepros, Everything.tv and possibly a press release going out on the entire situation.

---------- Post added at 10:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:26 PM ----------

The entire comment thread from Watch.tv

Makis on 03.19.2010 said:
What will happen for premium .tv domains that we have already registered from 2007 landrush, will they be renewed at normal reg fee’s as well?


chris sheridan on 03.19.2010 said:
Great question. The motivation behind the pricing changes is to spur interest in registering the remaining available.TV premium names. VeriSign realized that they had to create a big buzz to draw attention to these names and also create a very compelling call-to-action to incentivize people to take the next step and register them. We believe that they have accomplished this under the new program. The benefit of these changes is that it brings more users in to the .TV space and the premium names are enhanced as a result of the large adoption and addition of new customers. So, this is good news for current customers I would also add that the current premium name customers were the first real adopters of tv premium names. They have highly sought after names. These domain names are only enhanced with today’s news.


Makis on 03.19.2010 said:
Thanks for the reply Chris.
May I add that all these years we supported and believed in .tv more than anyone, it would be unfortunate for us to pay premium renewals or buyouts while at the same time every one else gets .tv’s for reg fee.
Any targeted answer on this matter would be much appreciated.


JB on 03.19.2010 said:
Chris,

That still doesnt really answer the question. What will happen with premium names that are currently reg’d?. The argument that it will help these names doesnt really make sense. How is verisign selling names making my premium reg’s less? The argument that they will be worth more because of more .TV adoption is very arbitrary. Buyers or endusers for the names would be stay far away from them because of the exorbant renewal rates.

It seems to be really sticking it to your current clients base.


JB on 03.19.2010 said:
Hi Chris,

Also the argument that current reg’d premium names are “highly” sought after does not remotly ring true. If that was the case you would not have seen the mass exodus of the premium scheme that forced verisign/enom to make changes. The truth is they are not sought after and never would be because of the huge renewal rates.

I think most would agree with my statement.


Cate.TV on 03.20.2010 said:
“The increased distribution channel for these names will give end users more options to find a premium .tv domain name while continuing to support the growing awareness of the .tv top level domain and further solidify .tv as the must-have address for online video.”

As the owner of 4 (was 5 but since it was more to “protect” the brand i decided to drop one due to cost!) premium .tv domain names – i will be producing/posting a video soon in response to above statement as well as this one -” In addition, we are changing the renewal model to align with secondary market registrations and it will become a standard Registry renewal fee.”

Michaela & Chris – I have nothing but respect for the two of you in executing your jobs and being part, albeit messengers, of this “full circle” .tv play ….That being said, please indulge me/us as I relive the days of “playing in the sandbox and being one of the first to “push play”

2000 – article in Business Week re: .TV registry now open ….I’ll share the rest in my video – what other way would I share?….after all this is .tv and us early adopters/evangelists – whatever you want to call us, that bought reg and premium .TV domain names – before “it was cool” and who probably sold (I’ll just speak for myself here) at least 500 from my excitement….and didn’t complain (although I never liked) about the ongoing renewal fees…..”just the cost of running a business” i would say…..well now I’m saying….Stay tuned…respectfully, Cate Colgan from Cate TV cuz I’m excited about the direction moving forward….but I’m also really EXCITED in a not so good way about EA “punishment” – I’m confident that this will be resolved quickly because I’d hate to think that my $ 12,500 that I have spent on purchase/renewals of my .TV premiums won’t be taken in to consideration as part of the marketing budget that Verisign never spent – drop the renewals so I won’t have to create an invoice please….. C.atch A.ll T.he E.xcitement and I’ll be talking with you soon…….


Antonis Polemitis on 03.21.2010 said:
Chris,

Great to hear from you and congratulations on a good and important step forward this week.

A couple of thoughts:

1/I am afraid that the thought that this is nothing but upside for existing premium holders and so they will happily renew indefinitely is wishful thinking on ENOM/VSGN’s part. Given (the positive) changes that were made this week, there are now far better values in the secondary market than in the majority of existing premium registrations. If nothing is done for existing premium holders, I would expect a pretty radical shift for most folks away from their current names to the much better, market-cleared values in the secondary market.

2/ I think with these steps, the .TV TLD is still a bit half-pregnant in terms of reducing the complexity of its registration structure and bringing it in line with the hundreds of other TLDs that have more standard structures. We are now in a situation where there are at least 5 classes of .tv domains:

(a) Domains that have been non-premium from the beginning with no upfront fee and regular renewals

(b) Premium domains that were registered before Mar 19th and have a wide range of renewal structures

(c) Premium domains that were registered after Mar 19th and have an upfront fee of varying amounts but regular renewals

(d) Premium domains of category C that are being withheld for the SEDO auction

(e) Other Premium domains of category C that appear to have been reserved by the registry for other purposes (future auctions?)

This, if anything, is even more complex than the prior situation. Even ‘domaineers’ practically need scorecard to keep track of this and for an average registrant, you are really asking a lot of them to be able to keep track of all these arbitrary divisions.

Add to this the fact that there is no particularly obvious way for an anyone to quickly determine which .tv domain falls into which bucket A-E above and the net result is uncertainty. And just like in the real world, uncertainty about ‘real estate law’ reduces the value of real estate, hurting everyone from end-users through to the registry.

Nothing done this week changes that fact that everyone in the .tv ecosystem from registries to registrars to auction houses to press will still have to have a big asterisk of disclaimers and technical explanations next to any attempted promotion of .tv domains.

That is not helpful in what I assume the VSGN objective helping the .tv TLD live up to its actual potential.

As you know, I am one of the biggest supporters of the TLD: in 2010, it remains where it was in 2006 – a TLD with phenomenal potential that has been hindered by ongoing complexity (and changing approaches) to pricing and distribution.

In a world with 250+ TLDS and a lot more coming down the pike AND given the results seen in .tv to date, I think the theory that .tv can somehow sit apart from the standard model of distribution and pricing practiced by almost every other TLD, I think should be pretty much dead and buried.

I believe that run on a more standard approach, .tv could be a top 10 TLD but I also believe the window for .tv to get there is starting to close as the world gets increasingly saturated with TLDs.

I hope that you guys can find your way there. To get the benefit of your changes this week, I think you need to be able to say ‘we are just like other TLDs’ – all renewals are standard and we are auctioning off our remaining premium inventory. I think that requires an equitable and 100% across the board model to eliminate premium renewals (so there are no exceptions, no more “EXCEPT for…”) and rapidly get your remaining premium inventory into the marketplace and let the world focus on getting the TLD into action instead of focusing on gaming (and trying to predict) whatever next approach the registry will take to the TLD.

There will be a lot more value generated in the .tv ecosystem for everyone in that world than there is today.

Warmest regards,

Antonis


HUANG JIU SHENG on 03.22.2010 said:
I want to buy 86.TV



Tom C., VeriSign on 03.26.2010 said:
Thank you for your comment. A list of registrars who offer Premium .tv registrations can be found at .tv, the top level domain (TLD) preferred for rich media including video, animation and user-generated content..


Lakshan on 03.24.2010 said:
Nice new, but where can i find updated list. I found the full list of .TV premium domains. But where can i find the premium .tv domains which i can register for reg fee now?


Josef on 03.24.2010 said:
It is unfortunate that absolutly no one from the staff answers the question about older premium domain owners.


Michaela B., VeriSign on 03.26.2010 said:
Thank you for your comments and feedback. It’s been a busy week for .tv! Several of your posts have discussed renewal prices for existing Premium .tv domains. Let me try to answer why we implemented a different pricing structure for the Premium .tv relaunch and new Premium .tv registrations going forward: the new pricing model is geared towards stimulating new interest and registrations, creating buzz and driving awareness of .tv as the address for online video – all things we believe will grow the value of the .tv brand and ultimately help increase the value of your premium .tv domain name portfolio.


Everything.tv on 04.3.2010 said:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.

Why do you people continue to avoid the question ?
If you think that someone paying $4000 for Orlando.tv believes that now you gave someone else the ability to buy Austria for $630 and no premium renewal is a good thing. Then either you are stupid, or you are being dishonest.

Name.com let people see what names would be if they were dropped of course they have taken that down. No doubt being pressured by Verisign or Enom.

Who is responsible for the older premiums ? Verisign or Enom ? IF you are not responsible you should say so, that way only one company is not boycotted.

This matter is not going to be left alone, it will be taken to the mainstream press.

Some have hinted at organized protests.

So someone should have the sense to tell people what is going on for real.

I am sure this will be moderated forever, no problem, it will be posted on Namepros, Everything.tv and possibly a press release going out on the entire situation.

 

[Makis.TV]

I got my posts at moderation mode as well.
They are a bot slow as always.

 

[Cate.tv]

Hello Makis! liking your new name Makis.TV time for you to do a video about this dear !

 

[Makis.TV]

Hello Makis! liking your new name Makis.TV time for you to do a video about this dear !

Thank you!
If I do then I don't think many could stand my trash talking, I don't have the best feelings overs this.
Someone is biting the hands that feeds them.
Just watched yours :D

 

[GoneWalkabout]

I placed my comments on Watch.tv two days ago and it too is 'awaiting moderation'.

 

[equity78]

I mean I would rather someone just say, No we are not changing it, so renew or drop do what you like.

But to use the rationale, hey you own Orlando.tv and now that we let people reg other Geo.tv of a comparable nature for 15 % of your renewal fee is good for you. That's insane. Put your big boy pants on and say the renewals are not going away because we are not going to give up the premium income. We know that it keeps the extension confusing but we don't care.

At least a cable company or a wireless company is honest. I said to my cable provider how does the guy next door get the same service 40 % less and a free tv. They said that is for new customers only, there is nothing we will do for you as a long time customer. That's it. Be upfront.

James brought up in another thread about all the other deals, and oh by the way check the registrations of some names, not regged on the 18th or the 19th but try March 12.

I see the boycott of Enom coming, no reason not to give all your domain business to someone else. At least Name.com is trying. Again IMO

 

[discovernow]

Who works in the media here or who has contacts to get this in the mainstream media? I think we need to go that direction.

 

[freedom30]

Who works in the media here or who has contacts to get this in the mainstream media? I think we need to go that direction.

Yeah, and who knows Oprah? :talk:

 

[DU]

Channel 8 is on YOUR side!

I'd be wary though if you go media because the story will be...

Domain Squatters want answers...... if you can get a LEGITIMATE END-USER then fair play - after all, they are the people really getting unfair treatment because end users CAN'T just drop and take a loss. They risk losing their business. Domainers are INVESTORS and often considered BAD FAITH investors. LOSING money is PART of INVESTING.

As far as domainers? I don't think anyone cares. They could speak to the fact that you pre-register "stealing" names at large from real people who can't find the domain they need. A coffee shop doesn't care if ENOM/VRSN treats Coffee as a premium or if a domainer artificially "makes" it a premium. The renewals in this case are a moot point.

People lost a FORTUNE in real estate. People lost jobs. People don't care about a domainer who has to DROP a domain. There's no ACTUAL loss there even. Money SPENT is money SPENT... GONE! Money in renewal is money to be spent... not sure where you expect sympathy.

It's easy to point out that some "insiders" managed to get access to THOUSANDS of deals BEFORE public availability of potentially great END-USER names. Unfortunately, once again the END USERS lost out.

So. While domainers think they have an argument... many people will see this like Cigarette companies thinking they get unfair treatment by the government.

It's not my argument. I'm just saying. Be CAREFUL what you WISH for.

 

[MillersCrossing]

Surprise surprise, all three commments of mine are probably not awaiting moderation - but are in the virtual paper bin.

What a bunch of sorry ass cowards those people are aswell as moderation facists.

If they are gonna screw over legacy owners, at least give them a place to express their feelings.

My submissions did not contain any bad language, but instead stated that they were avoiding answering the 800 lbs gorilla on the blog.

Really shows what a bunch of spineless and evasive folks we are dealing with here

 

[discovernow]

Channel 8 is on YOUR side!

I'd be wary though if you go media because the story will be...

Domain Squatters want answers...... if you can get a LEGITIMATE END-USER then fair play - after all, they are the people really getting unfair treatment because end users CAN'T just drop and take a loss. They risk losing their business. Domainers are INVESTORS and often considered BAD FAITH investors. LOSING money is PART of INVESTING.

As far as domainers? I don't think anyone cares. They could speak to the fact that you pre-register "stealing" names at large from real people who can't find the domain they need. A coffee shop doesn't care if ENOM/VRSN treats Coffee as a premium or if a domainer artificially "makes" it a premium. The renewals in this case are a moot point.

People lost a FORTUNE in real estate. People lost jobs. People don't care about a domainer who has to DROP a domain. There's no ACTUAL loss there even. Money SPENT is money SPENT... GONE! Money in renewal is money to be spent... not sure where you expect sympathy.

It's easy to point out that some "insiders" managed to get access to THOUSANDS of deals BEFORE public availability of potentially great END-USER names. Unfortunately, once again the END USERS lost out.

So. While domainers think they have an argument... many people will see this like Cigarette companies thinking they get unfair treatment by the government.

It's not my argument. I'm just saying. Be CAREFUL what you WISH for.

We have nothing to lose only to gain. I like our odds. Might not happen overnight, but I think we will succeed at this.

I believe our influence did have something to do with no more new premiums and our influence will work with legacy premiums.

Thanks, Jim

 

[Jeff]

I hope my post gets approved and I encourage all of you to speak your mind so they hear us and not ignore us. I cannot imagine any business not willing to answer a customer's question, can you?

Seeing lots of questions and anxieties ... I applaud your cumulative efforts to get the items addressed promptly IMHO. As to your specific question "I cannot imagine any business not willing to answer a customer's question(s), can you?", I get a sweaty, nightmare'ish deja vu all over again; mTLD and the ".MOBI"!
Of course, as we quickly learned, things went very terribly awry after that (beginning with their being evasive) ... :o :imho:

Good Luck, and Happy Easter Holiday! :music:
Jeff

 

[SKG]

Seeing lots of questions and anxieties ... I applaud your cumulative efforts to get the items addressed promptly IMHO. As to your specific question "I cannot imagine any business not willing to answer a customer's question(s), can you?", I get a sweaty, nightmare'ish deja vu all over again; mTLD and the ".MOBI"!
Of course, as we quickly learned, things went very terribly awry after that (beginning with their being evasive) ... :o :imho:

Good Luck, and Happy Easter Holiday! :music:
Jeff

So sorry for your nightmares Jeff, you should definitely see a doctor about that.

By the way, dr.tv is on auction and you may want to buy it help others who are suffering nightmarish nocturnal events.

Happy Easter, hope you sleep well.:zzz::wave::O

 

[DU]

We have nothing to lose only to gain. I like our odds. Might not happen overnight, but I think we will succeed at this.

I believe our influence did have something to do with no more new premiums and our influence will work with legacy premiums.

Thanks, Jim

My point was more that you all have a collective influence that you should use. I don't think I would rely on the media. Ultimately the there are many factors in play. Many end-users WON'T know that the renewal prices changed. Domainers know. I don't know what the relative $$ in each camp is. If *all* the end users knew then the influence is obviously greater because these are the GOOD public face of the .TV.

If Hollywood.TV complained ... that would be better than you all complaining

Dot Com excepted: domainers can be the lifeblood of the registrars/registries and they know this/need you. But it's the balance of $$ lost / $$ gained. (obvious)

Not all domainers are good and not all are bad - but they can ALL make a difference. It's really important, in my mind, that you approach any media with caution because they DON'T like "cybersquatters" which is the majority perception.

 

[Cate.tv]

Hello DefaultUser - where in Florida do you live dear?

I am not a "domainer" as in the sense that most people here might think of that word. I am though the owner of my "domains" - aka the end user - always have been....always looking out for the end user as well...that's what attracted me to dot tv in the first place

I'll be seeing Gunnar Larson - owner of Broadway Shows | Broadway Tickets | Broadway News late April when I go to attend/partake in the 140conf in NYC and see/interview Kelsey Kramer from La Cage Aux Folles - Official Broadway Site - hi, ho the video - More end users than you might think know about this for sure - we're putting our collective voices together - perhaps a "We are dot TV" version of "We are the World" might be in order ? - Who's in !!?? - join me as we sing...........We are.................

 

[antonis12]

At least a cable company or a wireless company is honest. I said to my cable provider how does the guy next door get the same service 40 % less and a free tv. They said that is for new customers only, there is nothing we will do for you as a long time customer. That's it. Be upfront.

Equity,

I don't think this is the exactly correct analogy.

I see it more like this:

(1) There is a cable company for your city (Verisign)

(2) They used to have a local reseller that had an exclusive for your city (Enom)

(3) The reseller priced high but if you wanted service (premium .tvs) they were the only game in town

(4) You have service with the reseller

(5) The cable company and the reseller bust up somehow and the cable company is now offering effectively* the same service in your city for 1/20th the cost of the original reseller

(6) You have no long-term obligation to stay with the original reseller

(7) What happens next? Do you continue to pay 20x forever? Will the original reseller be able to sustain 20x forever? Both questions are 'no way'

* Someone might say that the domains are not the same, but I continue to point out that I can't find any decent developed .tv site with a renewal above $2,000. For better or worse, so far the really expensive premiums that were fairly recently registered (say 1-2 years) have not gotten into production yet. So I think most people will ultimately drop these names and replace them with the same or similar names in the secondary market. Sure there is some sentimental value in the names you had, but you have to be rational here.

SUNK COSTS are SUNK COSTS. It is finance 101. They must be ignored in any analysis.

It does not matter that I paid $4,000 renewal for Orlando.tv last year. The question is: "Is Orlando.tv a good place to place my next $4,000 x infinite number of years vs. what is available today on sedo.tv?" I am pretty sure that this question answers itself.

Same thing goes for Enom. It might hurt that a month ago they thought they had an xxx,xxx revenue stream annually from premiums and now they don't, but c'est la vie. Just like I am not complaining about the money I paid in the past, they need to man-up and see the writing on the wall that that revenue stream is is over, finished, done. If they realize it in time and make a reasonable business offer, they might salvage some $ and their reputation out of it. If not, then it will be a total loss for them.

Of course the current situation is wildly unfair to the original premium registrants, but I don't need to make that appeal, because the game dynamics of this situation are going to bring it to the inevitable conclusion even if everyone acts totally cold-heartedly. If Enom makes no change, both original registrants and Enom will lose, but honestly Enom will lose more.

At the end of the day, with the amount of premium renewals I have coming up next year, I can replace most of my premiums with a portfolio of close to similar value and NO ongoing renewals. I suspect we will see some shockingly low end values for the middle to bottom tier of the Sedo auction which will make this point very visibly. It is not the worst case scenario for me. My goal remains development not resale so anything that reduces the cost of real estate is good for me.

But for Enom, the premium revenue stream is dead...and is never coming back. And if they realize this in time, they might be able to salvage some additional $ out of it and end this chapter honorably.

The guys at Enom are smart and decent at a personal level. Hopefully they will do the right thing for themselves and for us.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

 

[MillersCrossing]

Great post. i hope Enom are reading this thread.

 

[gr8trfoo]

If Hollywood.TV complained ... that would be better than you all complaining

I expect Shiraz will drop at least one more name if they don't make it standard renewal.

Not Hollywood, it's paid up till '12.