The .cbs Dot Brand
CBS Corporation
is a leading global mass media company with operations that include
the spheres of entertainment, cable networks, publishing, local broadcasting
and outdoor. Its monthly audience numbers in the hundreds of millions.
The .cbs
TLD will commence with a testing phase and a staged roll-out depending
on strategic business & industry factors and an analysis of the
existing CBS domain name portfolio. "CBS Corporation will begin
evaluating strategies to potentially migrate traffic to CBS Domains'
new gTLDs, .CBS and .SHOWTIME." Depending on various factors, up
to 10,000 domains may be launched in the first five years.
CBS will
closely analyse and assess changes in the domain name space and in particular,
the impact of the other 600 brand domains set to be launched. The company
recognises the value of being able to launch short, memorable and intuitive
domains at will.
Multiple
benefits are foreseen for the company and for the general public from
the new domain strings. The benefits include the following points.
•
Provide a trusted online marketplace for the hundreds of millions
of consumers that use CBS Corporation's services;
•
Provide CBS Corporation and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates
with the use of short and memorable Internet addresses in order to
facilitate increased ease for navigation to CBS online content and
other services;
•
Serve as a secure platform for the distribution of copyrighted material
to consumers.
With its
new brand domain, CBS is seeking to achieve a similar level of trust
and authority that is enjoyed by the .GOV and .EDU domain extensions.
At first,
the new .cbs TLDs will be redirected to existing online content under
existing domain names. Reaction to the new domains will be closely watched.
CBS will invest in marketing and communication to promote the new channels
as time progresses.
As a
.BRAND gTLD, the primary factors driving CBS Corporation to seek the
.CBS gTLD are differentiation and innovation. CBS Corporation is a
leading global media company that uses existing technology and leverages
emerging technologies to deliver content and services to its consumers
internationally. A .CBS gTLD has the potential to serve as a cornerstone
of this online strategy.
The exclusiveness
inherent in a closed dot brand registry will benefit the public by providing
a trusted source for companies like CBS. As the sole registrant, CBS
will control every domain in the space with beneficial results for visitors.
The TLD will assist in the battle against online piracy and other types
of online crime.
CBS Domains'
proposed operating rules to limit registration to CBS Corporation
and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates will provide a trusted
online environment... eliminating the need for third-party brand owners
to defensively register their trademark in the .CBS gTLD... (and)
...provide consumers with a trusted source for CBS Corporation's content,
goods, and services without the risk of fraud, misdirection, infringement,
phishing, malware, and other scams that consumers are plagued with
in .COM and other open gTLDs.
CBS foresees
the benefits of implementing the .cbs TLD in the context of logical
and intuitive global online destinations. Navigation will be simplified
and efficient.
The company
is in the first instance committed to reserving the specified country
& territory names described in the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook,
for example the shortform country names in the ISO 3166-1 list.
CBS currently
uses a number of region specific domains such as CBSStudios.hk, CBSNewYork.com
and CBS-Outdoor.it which it describes as "fair and non-misleading
use of geographical identifiers".
CBS Domains
would like to likely provide a hierarchical and intuitive framework
for the .CBS namespace by using geographical identifiers as second-level
domain names. This use of geographical identifiers to the left of
the TLD and as part of the domain name itself is believed to have
a direct and material impact on search engine algorithms and their
corresponding query results.
 Geographic
Dot Brands
CBS has
a stated commitment to "minimize any potential business practices
that might mislead consumers." In the light of its current domain
portfolio, and in the light of the benefits to CBS and the public through
use of country identifiers within domain names, CBS intends to apply
to be able to use geographic terms in the future.
After
all, domains like Canada.cbs and CA.cbs are not misleading, present
no apparent harm to the Canadian government and have a potential public
interest dividend in terms of streamlining online navigation. "CBS
Domains is also committed to continually reviewing and updating these
lists to prevent the misleading use of geographical identifiers."
Possible .cbs Brand
Domains
News.cbs
Sport.cbs
Showtime.cbs
Movies.cbs
Business.cbs
Comedy.cbs
TV.cbs
Program.cbs
NewYork.cbs
Chicago.cbs
NOTE: Every
CBS TV show can have its own domain.
Notes
Brand
names mentioned on this site are registered trademarks or trademarks
of their respective corporations. This site claims no association
with or endorsement by any of these corporations and their marks are
mentioned only to illustrate opinion presented in the public interest.
All quotations
on this page are from the respective companies' official ICANN brand
TLD applications unless otherwise stated.
Many possible
theoretical dot brands are mentioned (in English). There are also countless
possibilities in other languages. This has significant potential value
for international navigation.
This site
is focused on reporting the strategic impact of the brand domains on
internet communication, competition and commerce, and some comment is
speculative.
It is not
a comprehensive overview of what some of the world's largest corporations
have chosen to reveal about their plans for the implementation of their
proprietary domain strings.
ICANN is
particularly concerned with the technical, financial, security and legal
issues associated with the new TLDs. These issues are beyond the scope
of this website.
For a comprehensive
overview of the brand domains and their impact on the web, refer to
ICANN's website and the individual applications (large parts of which
are publicly published).
If you
have a particular interest in an individual company, the public aspects
of their applications are available for download via these ICANN links:
You can also search a complete list of applicants there.
ICANN
new gTLD applications
ICANN
official website
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