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WordPress-linked .blog dumps Nominet for CentralNic

Kevin Murphy, May 16, 2019, 11:19:46 (UTC), Domain Registries

Knock Knock Whois There, the .blog registry, has announced its decision to switch back-end registry providers.
The company, which is owned by WordPress.com owner Automattic, said that it has dropped Nominet in favor of fellow British rival CentralNic.
It announced the news in a blog post tonight.
The migration is expected to happen in late August or early September, pending ICANN approval (which is likely just a formality).
KKWT said in a blog post:

Deciding to change backend providers was a difficult decision and not one that we take lightly. We understand the time and effort it takes during the migration process, both on behalf of registrars, as well as everyone else involved. We strongly believe that this new partnership will enhance the .blog experience for our registrar, reseller partners, and registrants. We’re fortunate to have Nominet’s continued support to make this transition as smooth as possible.

It’s bad news for Nominet, because .blog is a quite high-profile TLD, at least in terms of new gTLDs.
.blog had just shy of 200,000 domains under management at the last count. Not much on the grand scheme of things, but enough to put it in the top 25 gTLDs from the 2012 round.
Nominet recently got some good news when Amazon switched the large majority of its largely unused gTLDs from Neustar.

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