18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

Prototypical answer:

“now” (http:⁄⁄www.now.com) is the umbrella brand that includes the “now.com” and “now.com.hk” portals, the IPTV network “now TV”, as well as the series of related services, such as, now 360, now VideoExpress (http:⁄⁄videoexpress.now.com), now Movie (http:⁄⁄movie.now.com), now Sports (http:⁄⁄sports.now.com), now News (http:⁄⁄news.now.com), etc.

now TV (http:⁄⁄www.now-tv.com⁄) is Hong Kong’s leading pay-TV operator and one of the world’s largest commercial deployments of IPTV. It carries more than 190 HD and SD channels of local, Asian and international programming.

An important part of the “.now” proposal is to properly safeguard and to expand the “now” brand that has been firmly established since the launch of now TV in 2003. With a customer base of over 1.1 million, it is now the largest pay TV platform in Hong Kong (over 50% penetration of the market) and one of the largest IPTV service providers in the world.

now is one of the key brands under PCCW Limited, a company listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong – HKEX, stock code: 0008. The PCCW group is a leading Hong Kong-based company which holds interests in telecommunications, media, IT solutions, property development and investment. We believe in the forefront of innovation and technologies and are therefore putting forward this proposal to operate the “.now” TLD as a new gTLD for the global Internet.

The mission of the “.now” registry is:

- To operate the “.now” TLD as an advanced, standards compliant, world class TLD registry on a stable and secure infrastructure, with high performance, scalability and availability;

- To promote a socially responsible TLD registry with a high level of integrity in the protection of online intellectual property rights, privacy and consumer trust, especially; and,

- To leverage and expand from the well established “now” brand from its Hong Kong and Asia base, as well as services, reach and customer base across its parent and related companies, to promote the “.now” TLD to become a globally recognized gTLD as an innovative online media and infotainment platform.

In addition to its mission and vision, as a new gTLD, the Registry believes in its responsibility as a responsible industry participant to advance competition, enhance consumer trust and promote consumer choice with the development of the TLD:

A. Advance Constructive Competition

The “.now” TLD will be built on the “now” brand and gradually develop into an open gTLD dedicated to online infotainment and convergent media technologies. The Registry believes that the introduction of the “.now” TLD will allow “now” (and its related brands: now TV, now Movie, now.com, etc.) to remain competitive and relevant in the dynamically growing global media industry.

B. Enhance Consumer Trust

By protecting our brand and ensuring that it is not mis-used in anyway by third parties as a TLD, we help support the enhancement of consumer trust in the DNS. More importantly, Internet end users will be able to use the “.now” TLD to connect directly with us, further enhancing consumer confidence and trust.

Above and beyond the ICANN requirements, the Registry will put in place appropriate Abuse Prevention & Mitigation (APM) measures as well as Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPM) to ensure a trusted domain space. Further details of APM and RPM above and beyond the basic ICANN requirements is discussed in response to Q28 & 29

Furthermore, with the support DotAsia (through Namesphere, as the registry front-end services provider), and Afilias as the registry back-end services provider, the Registry will ensure a secure and stable implementation of the .now registry that supports consumer trust.

C. Promote Consumer Choice

The introduction of “.now” allows consumers to choose to connect with services under the now brand directly through the TLD. Furthermore, the Registry will continue to explore and leverage the “.now” TLD to provide innovative services that enhance the user experience. Initially, the “.now” TLD is intended to be launched as a brand TLD. As the “.now” new gTLD gains acceptance, the Registry will explore gradually offering the TLD in an open global platform for entities and individuals interested. At the same time, this is balanced with a strong set of abuse prevention and rights protection mechanisms to ensure that the promotion of consumer choice does not compromise the security and stability of the Internet.

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