What is .hbo?
Brand TLDs operate under Specification 13 of ICANN's registry agreement. It lets a trademark owner keep every second-level name for itself, so you won't find .hbo names for sale at any registrar.
.hbo entered the DNS root zone on August 14, 2016, 10 years ago. It came out of ICANN's New gTLD Program, the 2012 application round that grew the root from 22 generic TLDs to well over a thousand.
On the technical side, .hbo is served by 6 authoritative name servers, every one of them reachable over IPv6. It is also DNSSEC-signed: the root zone carries a DS record for .hbo, which lets validating resolvers check its answers cryptographically. Registration data is published over RDAP.
.hbo FAQ
What country is .hbo?
None. .hbo is a generic top-level domain, so it isn't tied to any country.
Who owns the .hbo domain extension?
HBO Registry Services, Inc. operates .hbo as its registry, under a registry agreement with ICANN.
When was .hbo created?
.hbo was delegated to the DNS root zone on August 14, 2016.
Is .hbo a valid domain?
Yes. .hbo is an active top-level domain in the DNS root zone, delegated in 2016, so .hbo addresses work in every browser.
Can I buy a .hbo domain?
No. .hbo is a brand TLD under ICANN Specification 13, so names are reserved for HBO Registry Services, Inc.
Is .hbo DNSSEC-signed?
Yes, the root zone holds a DS record for .hbo.
Sources
Data from IANA root zone version 2026102000. Last changed May 11, 2024. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
