BRS Media
 | |
| Type: | Privately held |
| Founded: | 1994 |
| Founder(s): | George Bundy |
| Headquarters: | 55 New Montgomery St. Suite 622 San Francisco CA 94105-3432 |
| Country: | USA |
| Website: | brsmedia.fm |
| Key People | |
| George Bundy, CEO | |
BRS Media Inc. is a San Francisco-based e-commerce company that offers services to radio and internet companies. It has been named One of the Fastest Growing Companies in America in Inc. Magazine's Inc. 5000 list for 5 consecutive years, from 2008 to 2012.
It was founded by George Bundy in 1994.[1]
Services
- dotRadio - a TLD for the On Air & Online Community
- Get.fm - a showcase of .FM sites and sounds
- dotFM - an .fm domain registration site
- dotAM - an .am domain registration site
- iDotz.net - a full-service registrar offering names in 150 domain extensions
- iRRP.net - a registration and domain reseller management system
- Web-Radio - internet web radio
- Webz.net - an internet directory
.radio
Four companies have applied for the new gTLD .radio: the European Broadcasting Union, BRS Media, Tin Dale LLC, and Afilias.
In July 2012, BRS Media chairman and CEO George Bundy sent a letter to Heather Dryden, head of the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). He noted a conflict of interest in EBU's application for .radio, as the organization was at that time requesting to become a member of GAC, and requested that EBU withdraw its application.[2][3]
EBU published a statement prior to receiving BRS Media's letter that clarified and defended their position, stating, "The EBU represents the interests of the global radio community and can be relied on to provide a secure namespace to facilitate and speed the radio industry's digital, online evolution. Our responsibility is to every member of the radio community – not only the financially able or best equipped and to provide protection against cyber squatting or competing interests, who exploit commercial opportunities... It is not in the public interest to see (dot-radio) managed as a generic TLD by a non-radio stakeholder with commercial interests."[2]
In an August 8th interview with Radio World, Bundy played down EBU's statement by saying that, "There is no advantage the EBU has with regards to 'nonprofit' in running a Top Level Domain. If you look at VeriSign, a publicly trade for-profit corporation, running dot-com and at PIR (Public Interest Registry), a nonprofit corporation that operates dot-org, to the end user there is very little difference... with regards to price, polices and usage."[4]
In the same interview, Bundy listed several reasons that ICANN should pick BRS Media, including the company's notable amount of "experience dealing with industry-specific domain names" and the fact that BRS Media has only applied for one, whereas larger companies like Afilias have applied for numerous domain names and "care no more about radio than they do the color pink."[4]
According to ICANN rules, applicants with a "community" designation -- those who operate its proposed new gTLD for the benefit of a 'clearly designated community' -- will automatically receive "precedence for designation". If EBU can prove to ICANN's new gTLD review panel that it represents an entire community and does not lose the "community" designation due to challenges from other parties, it will automatically be the chosen bidder for .radio. Otherwise, .radio will be rewarded to the highest bidder through an auction process.[5]
Internet policy specialist Kathryn Kleiman believes taking into account the future of radio should be important. Her opinion is that, "BRS Media, Afilias and Tin Dale provide a more open platform for a range of new radio services that are developing now and in the future. It is a different version than the EBU application, which will allow registration of domain names to more traditional media, e.g., licensed broadcasters and licensed amateur radio clubs. An open discussion of visions of the future of radio online would be very timely right now."[5]
References
- ↑ About Us, BRSMedia.fm.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Battle for Dot-Radio: Part I, RadioWorld.com. Published 27 July 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
- ↑ Radio Applicant Slams GAC Conflict of Interest, DomainIncite.com. Published 11 July 2012.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Battle for Dot-Radio: Part II, RadioWorld.com. Published 8 August 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Kleiman: U.S. Radio Should Get Involved in 'Dot-Radio' Discussion, RWOnline.com. Published 14 November 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.