gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.sky	Sky IP International Ltd, a company incorporated in England and Wales, operating via its registered Swiss branch	bskyb.com	View

The mission and purpose of the new .sky gTLD is to benefit internet users by ensuring increased trust and confidence through the assurance of brand authenticity.

The .sky gTLD will be a new generation gTLD providing Sky end-users with an authenticated and trusted Sky internet space where information can be found on the Sky brand, its products and services, its affiliates and partners. The .sky gTLD will be controlled by Sky IP International Limited (Sky IPI) for use by potentially all Sky group companies including the parent company BSkyB Group plc and Sky licensees (all of which shall be collectively referred to as “Sky”). It is anticipated that the primary use of the second level .sky domain names will be to promote and communicate the Sky brand and its broadcasting, media, entertainment and telecommunication services and products. There may be potential for various second and third level .sky gTLD domains to be created for use by Sky home and business customers at a later date. There may also be use of geographic names for second level .sky domains for use by Sky licensees in overseas territories and countries. Furthermore, given the global presence of Sky (as described below), Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) may also be registered and used for second level .sky domain names.
Sky operates, directly or through its licensees, a comprehensive multi-channel, multi-platform television service in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Brazil and Mexico. It also has a significant global footprint outside of these territories where it broadcasts various services including an Arabic language news service to 19 Middle Eastern countries, and an English language news service to 110 countries throughout Europe, the Asia Pacific region, Australasia, Africa, Latin America and North America. It also operates a number of associated businesses in advertising and marketing, betting and gaming and telecommunications including broadband and telephone services. Sky also has significant sponsorship arrangements including sponsoring the Sky Pro Cycling team, a professional road cycling team. Sky is also involved with well-publicised community initiatives including Sky Ride (an initiative encouraging people to exercise by cycling) and Sky Rainforest Rescue (a campaign to raise awareness and funds to prevent the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest). Customer trust, brand recognition and continuous innovation are paramount considerations in all of the activities of the business.
Sky’s business activities are increasingly conducted on the internet and are constantly changing and evolving especially with the convergence of media technologies in delivering content. The volume of commercial transactions over the internet is constantly growing and .sky will simplify and lower transaction costs benefiting Sky and its customers. Furthermore, .sky aims to promote greater user confidence in the security of transactions and⁄or interactions with Sky. Similarly, the .sky gTLD will assure customers of the authenticity of its online promotion and marketing of media, entertainment, betting and gaming, and telecommunication related products and services.
Sky IPI’s mission and purpose for the proposed .sky gTLD are aligned with ICANN’s initiatives to promote the public interest and its Affirmation of Commitments which include promoting consumer trust, competition and consumer choice.The .sky registry will be operated centrally with a restricted registration policy where only Sky IPI and⁄or its authorised affiliate entities will be able to register domains for use initially by the Sky group companies and existing and future Sky licensees. Furthermore, .sky domain names are subject to registration standards, policies and procedures under Sky IPI’s control, which eliminates the possibility of malicious conduct within the .sky.
Given Sky IPI’s tight control over .sky and its proposed policies and procedures (as described above and throughout this application) to eliminate all possible malicious and abusive conduct within .sky, consumers will be reassured that all .sky domain names are trustworthy and authentic Sky sites. This in turn builds consumer trust and confidence enhancing Sky’s online reputation. Sky’s activities will encourage competition amongst registry operators, whereby existing and new TLD operators will make changes in their mechanisms to improve consumer trust in their own TLDs so that they are at least on part with improvements in consumer trust made by other TLD operators such as Sky IPI. Improved consumer trust and competition will encourage e-commerce thereby increases the number of online transactions and interactions by consumers.
The .sky gTLD also presents Sky with a substantial opportunity to market new products and services including user-driven improvement and innovations by creating new second and third level domain names as required. These domain names, including the use of geographic names and IDNs, will promote consumers choice by innovatively increasing the ways consumers can interact with Sky.

Given the initially restricted nature of.sky, the projected number of registrations is likely to be limited. It is anticipated that a small number of domain names will be registered in the first year. Over the next few years, the number of registrations is likely to increase to between 500-1000 domain names as new services and marketing campaigns are developed and implemented. Sky may, at a later date, evaluate the potential in extending .sky access (i.e. use but not registration) to its home and business customers. In making such evaluation, Sky IPI will take due consideration of its continued compliance with all operational, technical and policy requirements. Sky IPI will keep ICANN reasonably informed of any material developments relating to.sky, including compliance with the continued operations instrument obligations as set out in Specification 8 of the Registry Agreement. Sky IPI intends to utilise geographic names and Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) to support a positive user experience for users regardless of geography or language.

Sky is a well-recognised global brand and has trade mark applications and registrations in 130 jurisdictions for the word SKY and other SKY related marks. These registrations cover a range of different classes of goods and services including broadcasting services (such as television and radio broadcasting), apparatus used for the receiving, recording, storage and playback of television and radio, advertising and marketing, telecommunications (including telephony and broadband services), betting and gaming, entertainment and cultural activities.
Sky has existing domain names using the SKY trade marks in domain spaces including:
-gTLDs: .com, .biz, .net, .org, .travel,
-ccTLDS: co.uk, eu, me, ws, com.cn, cn, .de, com.dm, com.es, com.gr, dm, mp, org.cn, qa, so., tm.fr, tv, it ie.
Recently, Sky was successful in securing sunrise applications for .info, .mobi, .eu, .asia, .tel, .co and .xxx domain spaces based on its existing registered trade mark rights.

Sky has strong registered and unregistered rights in the SKY name based on its famous reputation in the UK, Ireland, Italy and Germany. In particular, Sky has used the SKY trade mark extensively and exclusively for over 20 years in the UK where it has developed an iconic reputation. Furthermore, it has a substantial reputation in other countries around the world via its worldwide broadcasts of Sky News amongst other things. Sky has been at the forefront of media convergent technology by combining television, computer, internet and telecommunication technologies through its substantial investment in technological innovation, product development and focused marketing. As a result, the SKY brand is well known for its internet-related goods and services. Sky IPI believes that .sky is unlikely to cause confusion with either a generic term or any existing TLDs.

gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.weather	The Weather Channel LLC	weather.com	View

The mission and purpose of a new restricted .weather gTLD is to benefit internet users by ensuring increased trust, convenience and utility.

The .weather gTLD will create a next generation gTLD serving the interests of end users. The .weather gTLD will provide an authoritative Internet space for weather content, where the trusted services and resources of The Weather Channel, LLC (TWC), its affiliates, and partners will be closely controlled and made available to consumers around the world. The majority of the anticipated domain name registrations in .weather will be used in the communication of TWC’s content and services, including accurate, easily accessible, and potentially lifesaving weather-related information. A subset of domain names has the potential to be created and used for personalized and hyper-local information purposes.

TWC is a wholly owned subsidiary of TWCC Holding Corporation (TWCCHC). Together with other subsidiaries of TWCCHC, TWC is a part of The Weather Channel Companies (TWCC). TWCC, through its subsidiaries including TWC, owns The Weather Channel television network, The Weather Channel digital properties and other weather-related businesses including WSI Corporation (WSI). The Weather Channel television network reaches over 100 million US households, and TWCC’s web properties (including weather.com) receive 60 million unique users each month. TWC reaches 40 million mobile consumers monthly through its tablet and mobile telephone applications and mobile websites, with TWCC mobile applications being one of the most used on smart phones and tablets. WSI provides weather data and services to top companies in the local television⁄media, energy, and aviation industries. TWC was initially launched in 1982 to program and deliver a cable television network and today, TWCC is a leading global brand and a recognized world leader in weather forecasting capabilities with global coverage including UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, India, Brazil and other Latin American countries. In this regard, continuous innovations and improvements in weather forecasting technologies and reliable online presence are the main consideration in TWC’s activities. TWCC has approximately 1,100 employees and is headquartered in Atlanta, US with offices in global locations including New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Detroit, Dallas and London.

Since the inception of the current domain name system, business activities conducted on the internet have been constantly changing and evolving with increased complexity. Internet innovation has brought benefits of simplicity and lowered transaction costs. However, criminal activities over the internet including data breach, hacking and phishing activities have also become more sophisticated, resulting in loss of consumer confidence. In addition, consumer trust has been eroded by unauthorized and inaccurate sources of information. The .weather gTLD will facilitate greater trust and assurance from internet users connecting with weather-related content online, while increasing the convenience and efficiency of their interactions.

TWC’s mission and purpose of the proposed new gTLD share ICANN’s initiatives to promote public interest. TWC is committed to contributing toward achieving such initiatives in line with ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments, which includes:
- consumer trust: the .weather registry will be operated in a centralized manner with a restrictive registration policy. Registration of domain names will be available only to TWC and its affiliates⁄partners, which will provide added consumer trust that .weather domain names are trustworthy. As .weather domain names are subject to registration standards, policies and procedures under TWC’s control, this eliminates the possibility of malicious conduct within the .weather domain space;
- competition: .weather will spur innovation and competition in the weather media space by increasing the personalization and customization for consumers and providing weather-related information in a new and differentiated way. It will also spur innovation and competition among top level domain (TLD) operators by showcasing innovative, trustworthy, and compelling ways in which TLDs can be used to benefit consumers; and
- consumer choice: .weather will provide consumers with new, more personalized and intuitive options to navigate the internet to find weather related information. The .weather gTLD will provide consumers with more choices for interacting with TWC and weather-related content overall.

Given the restricted nature of the .weather gTLD, the projected number of registrations is likely to be limited. It is anticipated that a rather limited number of around 210 domain names will be registered in the first year to cover the US, the world’s largest weather market. However, over the next few years, the number of registrations is likely to increase to about 100,000 domain names as TWC develops and implements new services to cover weather markets worldwide.

As the .weather gTLD expands and evolves, TWC may consider offering the use of second level domain names to its global partners including distribution partners (web portals, mobile OEMs), B2B customers, advertisers, and other digital content publishers at a later date. In this endeavor, TWC will continue to comply with all operational, technical and policy requirements to maintain consumer trust and the stability of the internet. TWC will keep ICANN reasonably informed of any material developments relating to .weather including compliance with the continued operations instrument obligations as set out in Specification 8 of the Registry Agreement.

TWC intends to create relevant domain names for use including services, geographic and other place names within .weather to provide accurate and relevant weather-related information to its customers. In accordance with registration policy and the proposed measures for protection of geographic names as outlined in response to Question 22, TWC will use geographic names to localize its websites in the countries and regions relevant to its operation. The use of geographic names is intended to:
- connect internet users with relevant information as applicable to the territory; and
- comply with required rules and regulations in the national territory.

TWC does not intend to utilize Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) at the second level at the time of launch. However, as the use of .weather evolves, TWC may utilize IDNs within .weather to allow internet users to engage in their native language, creating a more positive user experience and encouraging diversity.

TWCC is a well-recognized global brand with registered and pending trademarks (through TWC) consisting solely of “weather” or “weather.com” in 36 countries and territories for (but not limited to) the following classes: 9 (instruments, pre-recorded audio and video recording), 16 (print), 35 (advertising), 38 (telecommunications), 41 (education), 42 (online publications; meteorological services), 45 (personal and social services).

TWC has an extensive domain name portfolio including existing domain names with an exact match to the “weather” trademark and the applied-for string in various domain spaces including, com, mobi, travel, co.at, co.gg, co.uk, co.uz, com.ag, com, dm, com.ec, com.gy, com.kn, com.pr, com.vc, dm, gl, gy, kn, tv, uz

TWC believes that the .weather gTLD is unlikely to cause confusion with either a generic term or any existing TLDs. TWCC is a leading global brand and a recognized leader in weather forecasting capabilities. TWC is the owner of several trademarks worldwide containing or consisting solely of the term “weather” and has a strong worldwide reputation. TWC has used the term “weather” in conjunction with its core business since its establishment and reaches close to 100 million TV viewers, 60 million web users and 40 million mobile users monthly.