Can we redirect our podcast from an expired domain we don't own to a new one we do own?

Question

Can we redirect our podcast from an expired domain we don't own to a new one we do own?

My friend and I have been doing a sports podcast for 10 years. The domain name just expired (it was good for 10 years). The domain was originally purchased and set up by my friend's brother-in-law who works for a web hosting service and was the one who suggested we start the podcast. He was unwilling to relinquish ownership of the domain "in case it ever got big I want a piece of it." We don't make any money to speak of with the podcast. It's basically a hobby, but it is pretty popular. My friend and his brother-in-law have had other issues and are basically estranged.

Question: We created a new domain name that is similar to the old one. I was able to put our website onto the new domain, was unable to redirect people trying to go to our old site to the new one, since when they try to go to the old site they get a message that the domain is expired.

We don't mind starting over with the new domain name, but our podcast feed still points to the old domain name. If anyone tries to download a new podcast episode, they get the exclamation mark (cannot download). I think this is due to the fact that I had to rename our podcast feed url to reflect the new domain name and iTunes is looking for the podcast under the old feed url. Does anyone know if there's a way to fix our feed so that it works again with iTunes and all the other podcast websites? Or do we have to resubmit as if it's a new podcast and do the same with all of the podcast directories?

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1), iMac 21.5 Inch Mid 2010

Posted on May 22, 2015 3:08 PM

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Answer 1

May 22, 2015 3:28 PM in response to Randall Olson1

You say the domain has expired - have you tried repurchasing it? It would eventually be available to anyone (there may be a grace period after expiry) and of course someone else may have snaffled it but it would be worth trying. If you can purchase it you can simply reinstate the feed.

Failing that, the usual methods for redirecting iTunes to a new feed aren't available to you - they are adding a special tag to the original feed (which no longer exists) and setting up a 301 redirect on the server for the original feed, which isn't accessible either.

Given this you have only two options. You can email Support at podcasts 'at' apple.com and ask them to redirect the Store to the new feed. Give them the URL of your Store page and the URLs of both feeds. I can't guarantee they will do this - their responses are a bit variable - but they have for other people. However this will only redirect the iTunes Store: existing subscribers cannot be redirected (as they could have been with the special tag I mentioned).

If this fails you will have to re-submit the podcast as an entirely new one - you will need to change the title slightly or you will be told it's already been submitted. You can request to have the old Store page taken down:

from http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/specs.html

To request that your podcast be removed from the iTunes Store:

Sign in to the iTunes Store using your Apple ID
Find and select your podcast
Click Report a Concern
Choose Remove a Podcast from the Choose a Reason menu
Provide details why you want the podcast removed.

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