http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB975376877752666821.htm # # November 28, 2000 # # VeriSign Invests in dotTV, # Enters Marketing Alliance # # By NICK WINGFIELD # # Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL # # VeriSign Inc., a leader in handling registrations for ".com" # Internet addresses, Tuesday announced it is investing in a small # firm that controls Internet addresses ending in ".tv". # # VeriSign, Mountain View, Calif., is the largest investor in a # $28 million round of venture capital raised by .TV Corp. # International, a closely held firm in Los Angeles that goes by # the name of dotTV. International cable concern UnitedGlobalCom # Inc., investment firm Munder Capital Management and other # investors contributed to the funding, according to dotTV # executives. # # VeriSign, through its Network Solutions subsidiary, also plans # to begin allowing registrations of .tv Internet addresses on # the Network Solutions Web site. Network Solutions also will store # .tv addresses in a collection of 13 industrial-strength computers # around the world that handle look-ups of Internet addresses. # # Network Solutions is the world's largest registrar of Internet # address or "domain names" ending in .net., .org and .com. VeriSign # and dotTV don't plan to disclose the financial terms of their # marketing alliance, though VeriSign is expected to get a cut # of the $50 annual fee dotTV charges customers for registering # .tv domain names. # # The marketing deal could be a big boost for tiny dotTV, which # wants to establish .tv as an alternative domain name aimed at # Web companies that feature hefty doses of multimedia programming # on their sites. An oversight body called the Internet Corp. for # Assigned Names & Numbers, or Icann, hopes to finalize a plan # by the end of the year to create a number of new Internet address # suffixes, including ".info," ".pro" and ".biz". # # In the meantime, dotTV was able to license rights to the ".tv" # domain name from Tuvalu, a small Pacific Island nation for which # the suffix is an abbreviation. Under its agreement with dotTV, # Tuvalu receives a minimum of $4 million a year during the next # 10 years, according to dotTV executives. Tuvalu also owns about # 20% of the company and has a seat on the dotTV board.