New gTLD

I read an article this morning that discussed a new television show featuring Anderson Cooper, which will be aptly called Anderson.  I did a bit of research to see if there would be a unique website for the show, and I think I may have found one that could be used: Anderson.TV.

Cooper’s management company already appears to own  AndersonCooper.com, which is a fully developed website.  According to a Whois lookup, Anderson.TV is registered to Warner Bros. The company appears to have acquired/taken possession of  the domain name in February of 2011 from a company in Tawain.

According to a September 2010 article appearing on the website, Deadline.com, “Anderson Cooper has signed a deal to host a new one-hour NYC-based daily daytime strip for Warner Bros Domestic Television Distribution, set for national syndication launch in Fall 2011.”

Cooper is known to interact with his television audience online, and it would make sense to me that Warner Bros. may have  acquired  the domain name for the television show.  At the present time, Anderson.TV does not resolve.

If the domain name is used and marketed, it bodes well for .TV investors who look at market usage of domain names to help bolster the aftermarket values of other .TV domain names.

Just learned that Movies.XXX will be one of the premium .XXX domain names up for auction at the TRAFFIC show. We’ve heard that Frank Schilling and Mike Berkens have both invested in .XXX domain names in private, so we don’t really have an idea of their values.

What do you think Movies.XXX will sell for at auction? Keep in mind, there will be no online bidding, so bidders will have to place their bids in person or over the phone. I am not sure if there is a reserve price on the auction.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Frank Schilling’s 7 figure investment in .XXX domain names as part of the ICM Registry’s Founders Program. I learned that another domain investor has also made a large investment in .XXX domain names, via the Founders Program.

Mike Berkens paid “into the six figures” for three .XXX domain names. His company acquired FreePorn.xxx, BlowJobs.xxx, and AnalSex.xxx. The actual purchase price isn’t being disclosed by Berkens or the ICM Registry.

The people behind the ICM Registry and their plans for the extension are big reasons for Berkens’ investment. According to Berkens:

“I think when you invest in a new extension your investing the registry as well, the people behind it and their vision and plan.

ICM has some very smart, determined people who also have the budget and desire to make a turn .XXX into one of the better known extensions throughout the world to compete with .com for adult material.

I also think their forthcoming micropayment system will have a big impact on the space.

Moreover I don’t think another adult oriented domain will be approved by ICANN in the new gTLD process and therefore I think .XXX will own the adult domain space.”

Websites on these domain names (not safe for work or those under the age of 18) went live this past week. Berkens used the web development services of DDC to launch these three websites.

It’s likely that FreePorn.xxx is one of the ten most valuable .XXX domain names. It’s a risky investment, but it could certainly pay off down the road, assuming .XXX takes off. In fact, Frank Schilling is hoping for a ten bagger when it comes to his investment (watch the video on Danno’s Blog  3:00 mark).