>> Didn't somebody buy Tuvalu's TLD? I thought there were many American
>> TV networks bidding over .tv.

I think you're right...some of the country codes have been bought.

The governments of some third-world countries saw that less than 1% of their population had internet access and yet a large percentage were starving. It's probably a good idea for them to sell their Top Level Domain (TLD) and get a few million dollars that can go to good use.