Setting aside the issue of whether any registry should take back expired premium domains to their reserved list rather than letting them drop — and not to be picky and legalistic (although I’m about to be) — but VRSN does not ‘own’ the .TV registry as stated in your headline.
.TV is a country code TLD (ccTLD) and is owned by the government of the tiny nation of Tuvalu, which was lucky enough to get a ccTLD that has some considerable value in our video/streaming media age. VRSN manages the .TV registry for the government of Tuvalu, presumably under contract. VRSN apparently has the right to modify .TV registration policies but whether it does so in consultation with the government of Tuvalu, as well as who gets what portion of any resale price if an expired domain is placed on the reserve list and put up for premium sale again, are matters beyond my knowledge.
This is a good reminder that domains in ccTLDs — be it .me, .co, .uk, .de, or any other cc extension — are ultimately subject to the unilateral control of the government of the country that is their actual owner, and that ICANN has no say in the matter.
It’s also a good reminder not to let valuable domains expire. One has to ask who paid $5k for this domain just two years ago only to let it expire?
Article source: http://www.thedomains.com/2012/04/09/the-verisign-owned-tv-registry-takes-back-another-expired-tv-domain-name-this-time-auctions-tv/. Creative Commons (CC)
