International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) backs European Broadcasting Union (EBU) bid to manage .radio domain
Geneva, 15 August 2012 – The IARU has expressed public support for the EBU’s application to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to manage the top level domain name .radio to create a world-wide radio community.
Under the proposal, registration will be available via the EBU to all eligible radio representative organizations and broadcasters, Internet radios, radio amateurs, radio professionals and their respective representative organizations, as well as companies providing radio-specific products and services.
In a letter ICANN board chairman Steve Crocker, IARU president Timothy Ellam comments: “The IARU believes that the .radio proposal submitted by the EBU provides a unique opportunity to standardize radio domain names on the internet. The use of a specific global online name such as .radio can help create a unique space worldwide, a place where the global radio community can gather.”
Mr Ellam continues, “in my capacity as the IARU President, I recommend that the .radio Top Level Domain (TLD) proposal of the EBU be approved by ICANN.”
The IARU has been the watchdog and voice of the world Amateur Radio community since 1925 with a 160 strong membership from many different countries and territories.
EBU director general Ingrid Deltenre welcomed the IARU’s expression of confidence: “The EBU believes its application matches ICANN’s exacting criteria and best serves the collective interests of the global radio community. These kinds of comments confirm that belief.”
The EBU has also launched an application for the TLD .eurovision, which builds on the existing Eurovision brand.
Earlier this week, ICANN issued a progress report on the initial evaluation process. Applications have now been assigned to the relevant geographic, string similarity, and DNS stability evaluation panels.
Many people and organizations have expressed a desire for more time to comment public
The formal period for public comment has been extended to 26 September 2012 – an additional 45 days – to meet the demand of individuals and organizations. Comments received by 26 September will be forwarded to the evaluation panels to review and consider as part of their evaluations.
The Application Comment forum and the Program Feedback forum will remain open throughout the evaluation process.
About the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) The EBU serves 74 Members in 56 countries in and around Europe. It represents its Members and promotes the values and distinctiveness of public service media in Europe and around the world. The Eurovision and Euroradio networks deliver news, sports, events and music to EBU Members and other media organizations. Services to Members range from legal advice, technical standardization and development to coproduction and exchange of quality European content. For more information about the EBU: www.ebu.ch and www.eurovision.net/
