.xfinity

Status:	Proposed
Registry Provider:	Nominet
Type:	Brand TLD
More information:

.xfinity is a Brand TLD being proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is Comcast.

Application Details

The following is excerpted from the applicant's response to question #18:

"Comcast Corporation (“Comcast”) is a leading provider of video, high-speed Internet, and phone services to residential and business customers in the United States. As of December 31, 2010, Comcast cable systems served approximately 22.8 million video customers, 17.0 million high-speed Internet customers and 8.6 million phone customers and passed over 51 million homes and businesses in 39 states and the District of Columbia.

18.1.2 XFINITY

In 2010, Comcast launched XFINITY TV, its authenticated, On Demand online service. XFINITY TV offers online access to 150,000 entertainment choices, including movies, TV shows, premium and HD content, and a compelling search and discovery platform. All of Comcast’s digital video customers have access to XFINITY TV for no extra cost, making it a tremendous value-added service.

Comcast also launched the XFINITY TV app on iPads, iPhones and Android-based devices. The app now combines the functionality of a remote, a TV guide and a mobile video player, with a Play Now streaming feature that today gives customers access to nearly 4,500 hours of movies and TV shows. The iPad app alone has been downloaded more than 1.3 million times since it launched in mid-November 2010. Comcast is in the process of expanding its capabilities to include live TV programming and other features.

18.1.3 Mission and Purpose

Through a unified corporate approach, Comcast intends to submit two gTLD applications for the strings .COMCAST and .XFINITY. Comcast IP Holdings I, LLC, (“Comcast IP”) a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast, will be the entity to file this application and bring the .XFINITY gTLD to market.

The intended mission and purpose of the .XFINITY gTLD is to serve as a trusted and intuitive namespace for the benefit of Comcast and its qualified subsidiaries’ and affiliates’ customers and other Internet users, that will deepen and broaden these entities’ relationships with those audiences.

Although ICANN has not specifically recognized a .BRAND gTLD specification in the current gTLD application round, it is widely anticipated in the brand-owner community that this will become a specialty subset of the gTLDs. The .XFINITY gTLD is intended to be one of those .BRAND gTLDs, with the goal of protecting Comcast’s online presence and identity, expanding its marketing and promotion efforts, providing a secure channel for online products and services, and offering a platform through which to consolidate many of the intellectual property activities of Comcast.

Comcast IP intends to initially limit registration and use of domain names within the .XFINITY gTLD to Comcast and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates. This initial limited use will allow Comcast IP to establish .XFINITYʹs operations and achieve full sustainability. This limited distribution coupled with the other requirements set forth in Specification 9 of the template Registry Agreement is intended to exempt Comcast IP from its annual Code of Conduct Compliance requirements.

After the initial stages of operation, Comcast IP will evaluate whether opportunities exist to carry out the business strategy for the gTLD through expansion that continues the sustainable operations of the registry through fee-based registrations to parties other than Comcast and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates."