So What Happened To Frank Schilling’s .TV Domains? He Doesn’t Own Them, Enom Does.
Right after the .TV relaunch on March 18th several domain blogs pointed out that Frank Schilling invested in the new extension, one even listing all of the .TV domains he acquired.
And why not?
Frank has long been regarded to be the most successful domain investor on the planet.
So when blogs, even forums, took note that Frank bought into the .TV market they took it as a positive sign for .TV domains in general.
As noted by ibroker.com some of the domain Frank bought in the .TV relaunch included:
Cayman.TV
Climbing.tv
Dumb.tv
Bird.tv
Birthday.tv
Valentine.tv
Bunny.tv
Author.tv
Franks.tv
However these domains don’t appear to be owned by Frank anymore.
As most of us know Frank never uses privacy on this domains. All of Frank’s domains are all proudly registered to NameAdministration.
However these domains are now showing privacy at Enom.
So to me, all these domain look like they are now owned by Enom.
Here is how the whois record looked for Cayman.tv the day after the relaunch according to domaintools.com:
Registration Service Provided By: Name Administration Inc. Contact: admin@nameadmininc.com Visit: nameadministration.com Domain name: cayman.tv Administrative Contact: Name Administration Inc. Host Master (admin@nameadmininc.com) +1.3459466879 Fax: +1.3449466879 Box 10518 A.P.O. Grand Cayman, BWI KY Technical Contact: Name Administration Inc. Host Master (admin@nameadmininc.com) +1.3459466879 Fax: +1.3449466879 Box 10518 A.P.O. Grand Cayman, BWI KY Registrant Contact: Name Administration Inc. Host Master () Fax: Box 10518 A.P.O. Grand Cayman, BWI KY This is how the whois information now reads for this domain and all of the above "Frank".TV domains:
Domain name: cayman.tv
Administrative Contact:
Whois Privacy Protection Service, Inc.
Whois Agent (ddybtqjk@whoisprivacyprotect.com)
+1.4252740657
Fax: +1.4259744730
PMB 368, 14150 NE 20th St – F1
C/O cayman.tv
Bellevue, WA 98007
US
Technical Contact:
Whois Privacy Protection Service, Inc.
Whois Agent (ddybtqjk@whoisprivacyprotect.com)
+1.4252740657
Fax: +1.4259744730
PMB 368, 14150 NE 20th St – F1
C/O cayman.tv
Bellevue, WA 98007
US
Registrant Contact:
Whois Privacy Protection Service, Inc.
Whois Agent ()
Fax:
PMB 368, 14150 NE 20th St – F1
C/O cayman.tv
Bellevue, WA 98007
US
So these domains Frank bought are now owned by Enom?
How can this happen?
I know there was a grace period in which some people gave back their .TV domains they got from the “landrush” but those domains went back to the .TV registry and became available for re-registration on March 23rd. (I got some of those).
So how come these domains did not go back to the .TV registry but are registered and seem to be owned by Enom?
Why did Frank give these domains up?
What does that say for the .TV extension that they smartest domainer on earth gave back domains like cayman.tv, birthday.tv and climbing.tv when he had them all for very little mone
All of those domains he registered seem to only have a one time cost of somewhere around $20K according to Name.com (before they took the info down) which arguably Cayman.tv is worth all by itself, especially to Frank who lives in Cayman.
Finally the question must be asked is how exactly did Frank give these domains back?
I know when I registered the .TV domains on March 18th I had to use a credit card.
No payment, no domains.
So did Enom extend Frank credit to buy domains?
If so do they offer this to every domainer?
They never offered it to me.
Yes there are plenty of questions and issues arising from the business and operation of .TV land.
More to come.
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are tv names good or bad. i like them and im biased.. but my conclusion is , like public stocks, there are no good or bad tv domains…..
there are .tv domains at good prices and tv domains at bad prices.
this tld is still languishing off its IPO days, prices falling 10-50% per year. lets get all the supply out there at the low prices, then and only then can we build a base, and move upward. and like a good stock they wont tell you when its turned (if ever).
it kinda stinks i had to double down because of the premium program fiasco (ie buy similar names to my premiums so i can keep the new and ditch the old and the annual fees).
as to frank, he probably woke up thursday morning, saw the selective disinformation provided by enom and said im not taking these.. choke on em!
if so, more power to him for doing what those of us without the stature couldnt….
if hes keeping them, and look sfurther ahead than 21 days (which i think he does) i think youll see a beyond parking solution for his names and a nice ROI.
with dnstore.tv and maybe a blog ill try to show what to do next with a .tv (those of you thinking smartname are on the right track)
page howe
Of course Enom treats different people differently.
There is zero transparency with Enom. Some people got emails in advance of others that there were special deals to be had before the landrush. Some domainers call it networking with Enom, others call it paying off Enom. It all depends who is doing the talking.
The problem with .tv is it takes one step forward and two steps back.
Until all names are transparently reg fee renewals, there will be shady dealmaking till the cows come home.
Same old story 20 years later:
http://fragerfactor.blogspot.com/2008/08/flashback-2002-dottv.html
@Page,
Great points, you hit it right on.
@ Attila said: “I think dot ASIA might pick up in the coming years. After all, seems there are many organizations, movies and companies using them on billboards.”
Film festivals use dot ASIA is in the news recently. That makes sense, as one festival might serve more than one country . . .
Owen … save this page for a ” I told you so ” flashback in 2020
Michael – Shame on you, a real journalist would check his facts before publishing. Have you asked Frank? If so why dont you publish his response or lack of instead of spreading FUD.
In anticipation of your upcoming “shady dealing” article – why is preferential customer service “shady”? Since when should everyone everywhere be treated the same???
Some people have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in .tv names, you dont think they deserve an early tip now and then as a reward for their participation. Point of fact is eNom knew they were about to lose exclusivity and they emailed their best .tv customers and said heres a chance to buy with no recurring premiums and were willing to negotiate the standing price down to boot. Shady or jsut good business? Are you upset ’cause you didnt get the memo?
I have issues with eNom but this is not one of them.
I am/was one of enom’s best customers and I didn’t get an invite to pre-buy.
Who cares! I found out anyway and bought as much as I could. And the invite stuff wasn’t cheap, but it was VIP merchandise.
I follow .TV every day and found out about the goldrush when it mattered – the landrush when it was ‘good’ to buy – and the landrush when it was bad to buy. I ended up with a larger portfolio than I had before at one hell of a lower price – and I now have standard regs for ever on great names.
Do I feel bad towards Enom? Yes, but not because they didn’t ‘rate me’ worthy of an e-mail — but plain and simple because their half-assed ‘several pricing tier crazy stuff’ is sowing all manner of doubt into the.TV market and having a nasty effect on the the value of my original ‘premium portfolio’.
Now, I’m hearing we are to have even more ‘announcements’. I know I also won’t be on the mailing list for these!
Am I annoyed? No, enom make their decisions and I make mine.
I NOW have less than 5% of my names in their care and that will soon reduce even further.
Then I won’t need their e-mails at all.
.TV has changed for the better – ENOM are still as bad as ever, but there are now several other companies that can offer me a better service at a better price.
I still love the .tv extension, but I’m really glad I kept just as keen an eye on the TV.com portfolio!