CBC.COM is for sale. (1.Viewing)

Esdiel · Jan 22, 2021

Does anyone think CBC will ever go for the .COM, or know whether they've tried in the past?

Below is a bit of info I was able to find which may be helpful.

Archive.org shows that CBC has been using CBC.ca since at least October 31st, 1996, however, they apparently went online in 1995 for the first time, "becoming Canada's first news website":

https://cbc.radio-canada.ca/en/your-public-broadcaster/history

As for CBC.COM, it "appears" as though it was only registered for the first time on August 10, 2000, according to whois and archive.org. If nobody owned CBC.com before this date, it naturally leads one to assume CBC didn't have much interest in it at the time.

Of course it's always possible the .COM was unavailable when CBC decided to go with the .CA but I doubt they tried too hard to acquire it (at that time), especially given the previous owner (if he/she ever existed) must have let it drop at some point (as per the whois registration date).

What do you guys think, and/or have you ever heard anything about CBC wanting the .COM?

Esdiel · Jan 22, 2021

Below is the oldest capture for CBC.ca on archive.org (from Oct 31, 1996).

I thought you guys might be interested in seeing what Canada's first news website looked like in its infancy:

https://web.archive.org/web/19961031095442/http://www.cbc.ca/

DomainRecap · Jan 22, 2021

I'm pretty sure that an LLL with key letters like that was registered prior to 2000, but like they say in the movies, records from back then were probably lost in a fire and are incomplete at best.

Based on my internal timeline, I would bet on 1995-97 for a realistic registration date, with 1996 getting the best odds.

I just did some quick research and the estimated time of the LAST LLL.com hand-registration was in January of 2000 (probably some crap one like XZQ.com), so definitely CBC.com didn't stick around even close to that long.

I was there when TSX bought TSE.com (before that crone Barbara Stymiest bowed down and gave it to the Japanese) and I think it was 1995 or 96, and I'm sure we bought it from someone.

Esdiel · Jan 25, 2021

DomainRecap said:
I'm pretty sure that an LLL with key letters like that was registered prior to 2000, but like they say in the movies, records from back then were probably lost in a fire and are incomplete at best.

Based on my internal timeline, I would bet on 1995-97 for a realistic registration date, with 1996 getting the best odds.

I just did some quick research and the estimated time of the LAST LLL.com hand-registration was in January of 2000 (probably some crap one like XZQ.com), so definitely CBC.com didn't stick around even close to that long.

I was there when TSX bought TSE.com (before that crone Barbara Stymiest bowed down and gave it to the Japanese) and I think it was 1995 or 96, and I'm sure we bought it from someone.

Thanks DR. Very interesting... but an internal timeline based on memory is questionable evidence... Even recent eye-witness testimony has been proven to be very unreliable far too often... lol... but I see your point and you're probably right.

It's still possible CBC passed on it once upon a time, as it turns out they actually launched their first "experimental web service" in 1993, according to this wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBC.ca

I also assume you saw this same article about when the last LLL dotcoms were taken:

"From an investor's standpoint, not all letters are created equal. While the first LLL .com was registered in 1985, there were still plenty of available three-letter .com domains until 2000—fifteen years later. The reason: some of the letter combinations were unappealing, due to the lack of obvious acronym, or because when forcibly created into a brand, the visuals of it looked strange."

https://uniregistry.com/blog/post/the-story-and-appeal-of-lll-com-domains

Something tells me the owner of CBC.com has been waiting for CBC to come get it one day, and/or that CBC has enquired before (and the owner probably blew the deal and CBC never looked back). The owner is Korean (apparently) and has had the same static website since 2007, and nothing much before that.

The domain is also listed on Sedo with an asking price of 2 million USD:

https://sedo.com/search/details/?pa...Parking&utm_campaign=template&utm_source=3032

domains · Jan 26, 2021

The government gives the CBC so much money, they can probably easily afford it.

Esdiel · Jan 26, 2021

domains said:
The government gives the CBC so much money, they can probably easily afford it.

Good point. lol

I was thinking more about how our government has spent hundreds of billions on covid relief, and how it's far from clear where all that money is going.... so no one would probably notice (or be that upset) if they dropped a million to buy the .COM lol. At least they would be able to explain where that money went and have something to show for it.

The minimum offer you can submit on Sedo is also only 3K USD... so I'm betting CBC could probably work them down to six figures, maybe even five figures.

In any event, I get the feeling CBC doesn't care too much for the .com, and I definitely don't think they would ever use the .COM over the .CA, but it would be interesting to learn if there's any history there.

rlm · Jan 27, 2021