Sponsored top-level domain

{{Short description|Top-level domain that has a sponsor representing a specific community}}

A sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) is one of the categories of top-level domains (TLDs) maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet, alongside{{cite web |url=https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/ |title=Root Zone Database |publisher=Internet Assigned Numbers Authority}} country-code top-level domains (ccTLD) and generic top-level domains (gTLD).

A sponsored TLD is a specialized top-level domain that has a sponsor representing a specific community served by the domain. The communities involved are based on ethnic, geographical, professional, technical or other theme concepts proposed by private agencies or organizations that establish and enforce rules restricting the eligibility of registrants to use the TLD.

Generally speaking, a sponsored TLD is a specialized TLD that has a sponsor representing the narrower community that is most affected by the TLD, while an unsponsored TLD operates under policies established by the global Internet community directly through the ICANN process.{{cite web|url=https://archive.icann.org/en/tlds/|title=Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)|website=ICANN Archives}} For example, the .aero TLD is sponsored by SITA, which limits registrations to members of the air transport industry.

class="wikitable"

|+ Sponsored TLDs{{cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/en/registry-agreements?page=1&agreement-type=sponsored |title=gTLD Registry Agreements |website=ICANN}}

! TLD

! Eligibility

! Sponsors

.aero

| Members of the air-transport industry

| SITA

.asia

| Companies, organisations and individuals in the Asia-Pacific region

| DotAsia Organisation

.coop

| Cooperative associations

| DotCooperation LLC

.edu

| US Institutions of higher education

| Educause

.gov

| United States government, states and local governments

| Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (an independent agency of the US government)

.int

| International treaty-based organisations

| Internet Assigned Numbers Authority

.jobs

| Human resource managers

| {{as of|2021|alt=Since 2005}}: IANA states that the sponsoring organization is Employ Media LLC{{Cite web|url=https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/jobs.html|title=Delegation Record for .JOBS|date=2005-09-08|access-date=2021-02-13}} (private company), but also presents a delegation report that states Employ Media LLC is a registry, and the sponsoring organization is The Society for Human Resource Management{{Cite web|url=https://www.iana.org/reports/2005/jobs-report-31aug2005.html|title=IANA Report on the Delegation of the .JOBS Top-Level Domain|date=2005-08-31|access-date=2021-02-13}} (nonprofit organization)

.mil

| US Military entities

| Defense Information Systems Agency (US government)

.post

| Postal services

| Universal Postal Union

ICANN only applied the term sponsored TLD to TLDs in the first two rounds of new gTLDs. It did not use the distinction between sponsored and unsponsored for new gTLDs in the 2012 round.{{cite web|url=https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/global-support/faqs/faqs-en |title=Frequently Asked Questions on new gTLDs | publisher=ICANN.org}} Moreover, some sTLDs migrated to non-sponsored gTLDs on the Registry Agreement renewal.{{cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/en/registry-agreements?page=1&tld=cat&tld=mobi&tld=museum&tld=tel&tld=travel&tld=xxx |title=gTLD Registry Agreements |website=ICANN}}{{cite web|url=https://itp.cdn.icann.org/en/files/registry-agreement/public-comment-summary-report-proposed-renewal-registry-agreement-xxx-top-level-domain-tld2-13-09-2024-en.pdf |title=Public Comment Summary Report Proposed Renewal of the Registry Agreement for the .XXX top-level domain (TLD) |website=ICANN}}

class="wikitable"

|+ Former Sponsored TLDs

! TLD

! Eligibility

! Former Sponsors

.cat

| Catalan linguistic and cultural community

| Fundació puntCat

.mobi

| Providers and consumers of mobile products and services

| mTLD Top Level Domain, Ltd.{{Cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/en/registry-agreements/mobi/mobi-registry-agreement-10-7-2005-en |title=.MOBI Registry Agreement |website=ICANN}}

.museum

| Museums

| Museum Domain Management Association

.tel

| For businesses and individuals to publish contact data

| Since 2008: Telnic Limited{{Cite web|url=http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/tel.html|title=Delegation Record for .TEL|date=2007-03-02|website=IANA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121162855/http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/tel.html|archive-date=2008-11-21|url-status=dead}}

{{as of|2021|alt=Since 2017}}: Telnames Limited{{Cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/resources/agreement/tel-2016-12-01-en|title=.tel Registry Agreement|date=2016-12-01|access-date=2021-02-13|website=ICANN|quote=Effective 28 February 2017, the Registry Agreement was assigned by Telnic Limited to Telnames Limited}} (private company)

.travel

| Travel agents, airlines, hoteliers, tourism bureaus, etc.

| Since 2005: Tralliance Corporation{{Cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/resources/unthemed-pages/travel-agreement-2006-04-12-en|title=.travel Registry Agreement|at=I.3|quote=ICANN hereby designates Tralliance Corporation as the sponsoring organization|date=2005-05-05|access-date=2021-02-13}}

Since 2015: Registry is Tralliance Registry Management Company, LLC{{Cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/resources/agreement/travel-2015-10-09-en|title=.travel Registry Agreement|at=Registry Agreement|date=2015-10-09|access-date=2021-02-13}}

Since 2018: Registry is Dog Beach, LLC{{Cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/resources/agreement/travel-2015-10-09-en|title=.travel Registry Agreement|at=Assignment and Assumption Agreement|date=2018-02-12|access-date=2021-02-13}}

{{as of|2021|alt=Since 2020}}: Registry is Donuts Inc.{{Cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/resources/agreement/travel-2015-10-09-en|title=.travel Registry Agreement|at=Amendment No.3|date=2020-06-01|access-date=2021-02-13}} (private company)

.xxx

| Pornographic sites

| International Foundation for Online Responsibility (IFFOR){{Cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/en/registry-agreements/xxx/xxx-agreement-appendix-s-31-3-2011-en |title=.XXX Agreement Appendix S |website=ICANN |date=2011-03-31 |access-date=2025-03-06}}

Types

As of 2015, IANA distinguishes the following groups of top-level domains:{{cite web|url=https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/ |title=IANA root zone database |publisher=Iana.org |access-date=2015-11-10}}

infrastructure top-level domain (ARPA)
generic top-level domains (gTLD)
restricted generic top-level domains (grTLD)
sponsored top-level domains (sTLD)
country code top-level domains (ccTLD)
test top-level domains (tTLD)

Sponsored top-level domain

Types

References