BBC spent £212,000 of public money buying up bbc.com

by Ben Bold, Brand Republic 06-Oct-05, 11:00

LONDON - The BBC spent nearly quarter of a million pounds of licence-fee payers' money to buy the domain name bbc.com from a US firm.

The corporation bought the domain name from Boston Business Computing in 1999, but has only just admitted that it paid £212,000 ($375,000) for the URL, following a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act.

However, despite the fact that the BBC has now owned the web address for six years, it has yet to use the URL. Visitors logging on to bbc.com are redirected to bbc.co.uk. The corporation said that it is planning to use the address in the next 12 months.

The BBC added that it is currently looking at the possibilities of bbc.com and is considering using it as an international site. The BBC already has a number of international sites such as BBCAmerica.com and BBCWorld.com.

"The BBC purchased the domain name bbc.com in 1999 from Boston Business Computing for $375,000," the corporation admitted. "The sale involved a 24-month transitional period to ensure emails for Boston Business Computing and visitors to its site were redirected."

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