Warner Bros Discovery, through its subsidiary Lifestyle Domain Holdings, is relinquishing control of four of its dot-brand gTLDs, while retaining the .food domain, which has remained unused for nearly eight years.



Lifestyle Domain Holdings has formally requested ICANN to terminate its registry agreements for .foodnetwork, .travelchannel, .hgtv, and .cookingnetwork, representing four of its American cable TV channels.

In an unusual move, the termination notice includes an explanation for this decision:

Despite numerous attempts over the years to develop a marketing strategy for these assets, the company has concluded that they currently serve no purpose. Therefore, Lifestyle Domain Holdings is requesting early termination of the ICANN Registry Agreements and intends to wind down these domains.

None of the gTLDs have ever been utilized, which is also true for the remaining seven from Lifestyle's original portfolio of 11 gTLDs.

Originally owned by Scripps Networks, the registry has undergone multiple mergers and acquisitions since last year, resulting in Warner Bros Discovery becoming the majority owner.

Apart from the four relinquished gTLDs, Lifestyle Domain Holdings still holds contracts for .food, .diy, .cityeats, .living, .frontdoor, .lifestyle, and the enigmatic .vana (likely a brand that Scripps had intended to launch in 2012 but never materialized).

The registry's backend services were provided by Verisign, with Jennifer Wolfe serving as its new gTLD consultant.