Lifestyle Domain Holdings, Inc. part of the Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc., and Scripps Networks, LLC (“Scripps”) won the rights to operate the new domain extension .DIY beating Google who withdrew its application.
The company operates the The DIY Network.com, as well as many other Television networks including the Food Network, and the Cooking Channel, HGTV and the Travel Channel.
Of course DIY stands for Do It Yourself.
Scripps originally applied to operate 13 new gTLD and with the exception of .Glean which it withdrew early in the process, and .Home which got killed off by ICANN for the risk of collision, Scripps have now won the rights to operate 11 new gTLD’s.
Here is what Scripps said in the application about their plans for the new .DIY gTLD:
The mission of .DIY is to provide diverse internet users an enhanced online experience through high quality programming, content, information and authentic connected experiences centered on design, home improvement, self-help, lifestyle, and other related concepts, topics and activities.
.DIY will be a Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc., (“SNI”) DIY Network branded top level domain and intends to function, per the ICANN-Registry Operator Registry Agreement, as a Specification 9 exempt system that will seek to provide internet users with the confidence that all of the programming, information, social media, shopping and lifestyle opportunities found on the .DIY branded top level domain is authentic, genuine, safe and secure and affiliated with SNI’s family of lifestyle brands and specifically the DIY Network brand.
18B. How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?
The goal of .DIY is to provide high quality, authentic programming, information and online experiences for individuals interested in design, home improvement, self-help, lifestyle, and other related concepts, topics and activities. The reputation of SNI’s family of lifestyle brands and DIY Network are well recognized as a single source for high quality entertainment, instruction, do-it-yourself education, design, self-help, and lifestyle tips and tools to better enjoy life, make improvements inside and out of the home, and enjoy new experiences in an ever increasing connected world. The level of service to its customers is highly regarded as the single most trusted source for fun and interesting edutainment for do-it-yourself lifestyle related activities.
Internet users will benefit because .DIY will provide an enhanced online experience from the existing family of SNI’s lifestyle branded .coms and diynetwork.com through its ability to build more personalized experiences for internet users and provide greater control over the domain as a registry operator.
.DIY will provide users, who navigate within .DIY, privacy protection similar to what is currently provided on SNI’s family of brand .coms. The Applicant will annually review and audit these policies to ensure that all best practices are being utilized to protect the safety, security and confidentiality of its users.
.DIY will further benefit internet users by creating additional opportunities to strengthen the consistency of the delivery of the lifestyle brand. It will enhance the lifestyle brand and the DIY Network brand consistency by creating numerous subdomains under the .DIY TLD that have not been available under the existing top level domain namespace. Further, the .DIY TLD creates the possibility that these to-be-created subdomains will be more precisely targeted to internet users that will use them, more focused on content associated with the TLD under which they will reside, and more relevant to the TLD (i.e., there will be an increased nexus between the TLD utilized and the content, information and experiences associated with SNI’s family of lifestyle brands.
