We apologize for this unreservedly, and would like to respond with our plans to improve things.

WorldTV runs on 7 servers, and was designed and launched five years ago, well before the current trend for ‘cloud’ servers.

Cloud servers are essentially ‘computing on demand’, and for website owners it has the advantage of distributing high demand for a website over hundreds of different computers (that are shared between hundreds of different websites). In this way websites that are getting popular can have their demand met, while other websites that are not as popular use less resources. It’s a simple idea that generally works well.

We think that some form of cloud hosting is in our future and we have begun to carefully plan and research a migration towards that. It’s a huge overhaul to change the architecture of a site like WorldTV (some may remember the growing pains that Twitter experienced), and we are going to move carefully in that direction. In the meantime there are several things we can do to improve things in the ‘here and now’, and this work has already begun.

Yesterday we turned off some of our non-essential statistic reporting services (behind the scenes stuff) which should speed up loading of the Editor, and in particular Web Mode. If you have tried in recent days to access the Web Mode feature and been put off, we invite you to try again.

Tonight at 1am EST we will upgrade our primary ‘embed’ server, aka WorldTV Server 5. This server has suffered the most in recent days, as you can see on our regularly updated uptime graphs.

The problem that some users experienced today logging in to their Editors, or viewing the TV mode versions of their channels, we believe was a one-off issue, but we shall be monitoring this closely in the days ahead. In fact we strongly encourage all WorldTV users to follow us on Facebook, and post comments there if anything is not working. While we do run extensive monitoring software, some problems slip through the cracks, and we are not always instantly aware of them. In general our Facebook page is rapidly becoming our primary forum for two-way feedback with our community of users, and being on Facebook it means that should anything go wrong on WorldTV, we can always communicate with you.

We will have more to share in the weeks ahead as we work to improve the speed and reliability of our service. We believe in being transparent about everything we do, and we hope you enjoy the new features and improvements as much as we enjoy bringing them to you.

The improvements we are introducing today take us a huge step forward in terms of the video publishing capabilities we now offer.

Video publishing has never been this easy, and the combination of our award winning, video library and content management system, along with a powerful, easy-to-use video site publishing system, is a joy to use.

And the best part… every single new feature is 100% free!

List of New Features

• Fully customizable background image
• Customizable navigation menu
• Change the order of any item in the Sidebar or Content Section, and remove items
• New ‘Video Description’ box
• Customizable Video Slider box – Populate with videos by playlist order, recently added, most popular videos, or keyword match (this matches against keywords in clip meta tags)
• Customizable Video List box – Populate with videos using playlist order, recently added, most popular videos or keyword match. A new ‘More’ button at the bottom extends the page to show more videos. Customize the text labels for the box and the ‘More’ button. Descriptions for each video are now shown in the list.
• Home page video player can now display ’1st in Playlist’ or ‘Featured Video’
• New ‘Featured Video’ feature allows any video to be designated as a Featured Video
• Turn autoplay on/off for the video player
• Show or hide items within Video Ratings (Facebook Share, Twitter share, star rating)
• Customizable text label for Video Ratings
• A new, improved ‘speech bubble’ graphic style for the Welcome text in the Sidebar
• Add up to 5 different Video List boxes or Video Slider boxes per page. Each box can have its own settings.
• Have an entirely different layout for the individual Video Pages and the Home Page
• Facebook Comments for the Video Pages! Each video gets its own Facebook comments.
• Users can post comments about each video back to Facebook
• The administrator can moderate Facebook Comments (requires a Facebook fan page to be set up for your channel)
• Support for multi-language and accented characters
• The new Web Mode control panel is now a main tab in the Editor

Existing Web Mode Features

• Permalink video pages for every video in your channel
• Facebook fans box in sidebar (can be set to your own Fan page)
• Monetize your site with Google Adsense (paid feature)
• Host Web Mode pages on your own domain name (paid feature)
• Remove WorldTV branding (paid feature)

We can’t wait to see what our creative group of users comes up with using this. There’s a wealth of options to play around with… and the possibilities are endless!

We look forward to hearing your comments. The all new WorldTV Web Mode is live and in your Editor today!

(Don’t have a WorldTV channel yet… what are you waiting for?)

WorldTV’s centralised library system for web videos along with its (lesser known) bookmarklet feature is simply perfect for this task. It’s quick, easy… and best of all it’s free!

Here’s how to do it…

1. Create a channel (account) on WorldTV, and choose a name like ‘Nickys Video Collection’
2. (Optional) Add videos automatically during the sign up process from a YouTube account, Vimeo account or by simply using keywords
3. Once the channel is set up, and you are in the WorldTV Editor (the main screen), go to the Promote->Bookmarklets tab.
4. Choose the ‘Add to Library’ option and follow the simple instructions to add a bookmark to Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer
5. (Recommended) Use your browser’s bookmark features to move the bookmark to your browser toolbar so it’s readily accessible with a single click
6. Now as you surf YouTube or Vimeo and other video sites you can click on the bookmark you created to instantly add the video to your personal video library
7. Use WorldTV’s many other tools to embed, share or build a playlist of the web videos you collect and archive!

Good luck!

Today we finished the update with the biggest new feature of all – our brand new WorldTV PRO Store, which is now live within the Editor. With the new store you can add over 30 new features to your channel.

The Editor also has a new look and feel – our exciting and very slick v1.0 theme. If you’d prefer to keep the old look and feel you can do so under Channel Settings -> Editor.

We hope you enjoy the all new WorldTV. It’s taken us over 4 years to get to this point and we’re looking forward to all your comments and feedback. The latest info and discussion about the updates is happening over on Facebook. Come by and join in!

UPDATE: Techcrunch just published this article about the release.

In this text we delve under the hood of WorldTV’s plans for this release, give you a sneak peak into the exciting new features coming your way, and answer the question on everyone’s lips… Just what the heck does ‘beta’ mean anyway?

So what’s in store for v1.0 – the “Toronto” release?

A La Carte Features

Perhaps the most striking new feature will be a revolutionary new way of offering a web application. We’ve always had an issue with how software often comes with loads of features you don’t actually use (think Microsoft Word). So why can’t you hide or disable the features you don’t want?

It’s this idea that has driven us to develop arguably the most flexible, innovative and customizable web application ever made. Starting with a basic set of features, an additional 30 features will be available ‘a la carte’. You’ll be able to selectively enable features as your needs require. Don’t want a feature? Get rid of it. Bronze, Silver and Gold packages are soooo last decade.

Free Model

Since the very beginning WorldTV has been provided as a free service. This made sense as we were still developing the product. This will not change after our v1.0 release. WorldTV will continue to provide a free basic version of the service, although with less features than we currently offer. Existing channels will get to keep all the features they currently have.

What does this mean for me?

If you already have channels on WorldTV, nothing will change. You will have all the features you currently have, and the option to get new features if you wish. Some of the new features are free, and are described in detail below…

New User Homepages (‘Web Mode’)

Stunning new user homepages will be introduced for all users with this release! This has been our most requested feature and every channel will have its own professionally designed set of web pages showing all the videos on your channel. This is in addition to the current ‘TV Mode’ page.

Every video in your playlist will have its own web page (similar to YouTube or Vimeo), meaning you can easily share individual videos on Facebook, Twitter or by email, and have your users come to a page that looks professional.

User homepages will include ratings, a list of the most popular videos in your channel, and more. For a modest fee you’ll be able to add your own Google Adsense advertising on your pages, Google Analytics, and even host them on your own domain name.

With WorldTV and the new Web Mode feature, you will be able to create an entire video website, monetize it, monitor it, and manage the content super easily through the WorldTV Editor.

Live Video

Our new Live Tab will make it a cinch to add live video feeds to your WorldTV channel from Ustream, Qik and additional live sources in the coming weeks. You can switch between multiple live sources on the fly, and switch back and forth between ‘live mode’ and ‘playlist mode’ whenever you want. For those who tested our beta version of this feature, you’ll be pleased to see the love we’ve given it with this release. A freshly redesigned interface and more robust operation means anyone can mix and match live video with playlist videos – just like a real TV channel!

New Look and Feel

To reflect our more ‘grown up’ approach, we’ll be introducing a more professional look and feel throughout the site. Our much loved current design has been with us since the very beginning, and while it will be genuinely sad to see it go, we think the new design will attract more professional users, which ultimately means more resources to plough into more features for everybody.

Twitter Improvements

We’re overhauling our Twitter tab to make it work much better. Combined with the new Web Mode pages, WorldTV will make a superb social video sharing platform that can be monetized easily through Google Adsense.

Search the Library

You asked for it – we’re giving it to you! A new instant search box within the video library will make searching through your videos a breeze. Super fast and accurate, you’ll be able to rapidly drill down to any video with instant results… Faster than Google. (seriously!)

Icon-only Navigation Bar (PRO feature)

By popular request, we’re finally offering the ability to have an icon based navigation panel on WorldTV channels. This will replace the existing navigation panel in TV Mode for those who prefer this style.

Widgets for webpages (PRO feature)

Do you have your own website? Our new Widgets tab will offer a brand new wizard for creating fully customizable horizontal and vertical video widgets showing your most popular videos, playlist videos or random videos. Perfect for promoting your channel on your own site, and elsewhere on the web.

Customize the EPG (PRO feature)

With this feature you’ll be able to choose which channels appear in the right hand side of your channel’s EPG in TV Mode. In this way you can create your very own TV network – either by using multiple channels, or by linking to other WorldTV channels your viewers might like. This is another feature widely requested by users.

These are just some of the new features coming your way. There’ll be other refinements and improvements throughout the service and possibly a few surprises too.

A v1.0 release is a milestone for any software application and it means that the developers feel the software is finally ready for serious use. While WorldTV will probably never be finished in our eyes… come next week, we think we’ll be at a point where we can finally say we’re providing our users a ‘high quality, comprehensive and genuinely useful’ product.

Our planned release date for v1.0 is May 1st. Unexpected issues may delay this slightly. Follow our Twitter account for the latest info.

Here at WorldTV we’ll be providing an exclusive alternative to the traditional coverage in the form of an innovative live webcast, brought to you in conjunction with Comedy Plaza.

You’ll get to see the Royal Wedding, live, but with a twist. Providing the commentary will be some of the UK’s finest comedians, in a grand ad-libbed experiment.

So if you get bored of the regular coverage, switch over to worldtv.com/live for a light-hearted alternative.

See our Facebook event page for more details.

We had entries from literally all over the world and it’s been great fun going through everyone’s channels. There was a real variety of content and it was tough to pick just three winners.

Here goes…

The Winners

VentureCupTV

VentureCupTV is a channel about Entrepreneurship from Denmark. The stories focus on entrepreneurs in Denmark and wider afield in Europe. We especially liked the broadcast quality production values, slick editing, and the use of professional style idents and a channel introduction. The stories themselves are fascinating to watch.

FilmomentumTV

The story behind FilmomentumTV is as remarkable as the channel itself. It’s founder (Paris David Escandón Saavedra) originally from Mexico City, survived a 3 week coma, chronic kidney disease, and was declared brain dead by Physicians. When he woke up three weeks later, he found he had lost the majority of his eyesight. This didn’t stop him pursuing his love of video, animation and editing – and FilmomentumTV is the impressive result.

Filmomentum is in fact a collective. It’s members met through a video editing blog that Paris set up after marrying and moving to Canada. To facilitate his contribution to the collective Paris receives massive support from his wife, who he refers to as “my right hand and my eyes”. With other members from Canada (Chantal Deguire), Argentina (Jorger Tazzoli), Spain (Santiago Escribano) and Peru (Victor Osorio), the group has bonded through a common love of the visual arts, editing tools and filmmaking. The various shorts you will see on the channel cover video art, social commentary, documentaries and fiction.

“Filmomentum TV is a case in point of how the Internet can be the means to bring people together who have never met and live in different parts of the world. It can be used to build their common dreams into tangible projects, to share and actualize their ideas and passions. The tool which has really made this next step possible for us has been WorldTV.” says Paris.

Filmomentum stood out for us as an inspiring example of high quality, original video production, and a fantastic example of what can be achieved with the WorldTV platform.

BlackpoolTV

BlackpoolTV is an Internet TV channel about the iconic seaside town of Blackpool in Northern England. BlackpoolTV was set up by local resident Dan Braid to cover local events and happenings in an accessible and interesting way. On a recent shoot, they even managed to snag an interview with former Snooker World Champion Stephen Hendry. You can see the interview on the channel.

We really enjoyed the concept, the channel’s professional approach to production and the stories themselves. A brilliant example of how WorldTV can be used to create local TV. Great stuff.

Runners Up

Judging a competition is difficult because inevitably the majority of participants will be left disappointed. Here’s two channels that came very close indeed… We wish them every success and hope lots of people will visit them to see what they have to offer.

Jenraction TV

We especially liked Jenraction TV from Martinique. Similar in some ways to BlackpoolTV, the channel covers local events, music and happenings on the beautiful Caribbean island of Martinique. It has professional style idents and introductions and the channel does a great job of including many local people – some of whom are great characters.

MaxProsperTV

MaxProsperTV is a fascinating music video channel from Nigeria featuring all Nigerian artists. Many of the videos are original videos from the artists themselves, and if you love music, you will definitely want to check out MaxProsperTV.

Thank You… and a bonus!

Our huge thanks to everyone who participated and as a thank you to everyone who took the trouble to participate, we have given every channel that entered a free ‘Clips Upgrade‘ worth $10. If you already have this feature then we’ve enabled ‘Custom Meta Tags’ in your Editor – a new and forthcoming feature. Thank you all very much and we wish everyone continued success with their channels!

In any event… we’re thrilled, and our next major milestone will be the official release of WorldTV v1.0 which is planned for the end of April. Thanks to all of you for your continued support!

Our new ‘Minimal’ player is stylish, contemporary and perfect for embedding your entire WorldTV channel, or individual clips from your library. The choice is up to you.

The new player comes with several customization options and is available right now in your Editor under the ‘Promote’ tab. We think it’s our best player yet!

Have you ever wanted to have your own channel on TV? Ever wanted to become your own media mogul?

Well now’s your chance…

WorldTV offers the world’s leading platform for individuals and groups to create their own TV channel on the web. Now WorldTV is offering 3 lucky winners the opportunity to get their channel onto TV – for real.

Using WorldTV’s insanely easy-to-use video platform, anyone can create a TV channel out of a collection of video clips. WorldTV turns those clips into a full screen linear TV channel. This includes a channel logo, EPG, and a full suite of tools for managing the channel content.

If you’ve ever had the idea for a TV station, and think you have the talents to run one, now’s your chance to prove it! All that is needed is some creativity, an idea, and some great and unique content.

The Prize

We are offering three 1st prizes. Each prize includes the following:

• Your channel will be professionally converted into a Boxee app – the hottest connected TV platform on the planet. With a Boxee app, your channel will be viewable on the stunning new Boxee Box (and millions of installed Boxee desktop clients worldwide). You’ll have full ownership of the app and channel, and will be able to develop it, promote it and change the content as you wish.
• Your very own Boxee Box… to see your channel on TV!
• A VIP WorldTV.com package consisting of all available PRO features for 3 years
• Your channel, if selected, will be used in a VIP presentation to leading executives from the TV industry as an example of ‘people-powered TV’. These executives directly control the channels which appear on the EPG in over 150 million homes, and have stated a strong desire to find alternatives sources of modern and progressive content for their channels.
• Prominent profiling on WorldTV as a featured channel and in WorldTV’s various directories

To enter the competition please follow the rules below. Entry deadline is Dec 31st 2010 at midnight GMT.

Entry Rules

1. Create a WorldTV channel (or adapt an existing one) that meets the following criteria:-
   • At least 10 clips in the playlist
   • At least 80% of the clips are in HD. That means 720p resolution or higher.
   • You own the copyright in the videos yourself or have (or can realistically get) permission to use them. You can also use videos that are in the public domain (generally very old videos) or videos that fall under ‘fair use’ from a copyright perspective. Please research public domain and fair use before relying on these provisions. This video is a great primer on copyright. For the avoidance of doubt, you cannot use YouTube clips or other clips you find on the web unless you own the copyright in them yourself or can obtain permission to use them.
   • Is suitable for presenting in a business-like setting.
   • Can be in any language but it is recommended that at least 50% of the clips have English sub-titles.
2. You should be capable of communicating in English. The competition will be run in English.
3. All entries must be made on this form. Any other submissions (eg by email) will be rejected.
4. No correspondence will be entered into. The Editor’s decision is final.
5. You must provide a working email address.
6. You must be aged 16 or over, or have someone 16 or over helping you.
7. Multiple entries by an individual are allowed. Multiple entries of the same channel are not allowed.
8. This competition is run by WorldTV and is not affiliated with Boxee or any other Company.
9. We reserve the right to extend or re-open the competition if there are insufficient entries.
10. Winners will be announced on this blog within 4 weeks of the final close of the competition.
11. WorldTV will not obtain any copyright in the entries you make but will have the right to publicize the winner and winning entry and demonstrate the channel to TV executives as indicated under ‘Prizes’.
12. Clips can be hosted on any site that WorldTV supports (eg YouTube, Vimeo), but you must own, have permission to use, or can realistically obtain permission to use each and every clip. Winners will be required to provide the source video files for each clip following the competition.

Tips

• There are no specific themes we are looking for but the channel should demonstrate a ‘professional TV channel concept’. The name, logo and selection of clips should all reflect your concept.
• Think about what you can uniquely offer that someone else can’t. It might be a hobby, profession or interest, or it might be locale based such as a TV channel for a specific town or area. Ideally it would be something that doesn’t already exist on TV, or where you have a completely new spin on an existing idea.
• The more professional your channel looks, the better. Be sure to have a great logo, and if you can make up channel idents, and present or introduce your clips, through voiceovers, on-screen graphics or video introductions, this would reflect well alongside the content you have in your channel.
• Teachers are welcomed and encouraged to enter their students into the competition.
• If your content includes clips from what look like major TV or film productions, and are clearly beyond ‘fair use’, be sure to tell us your connection to this content in your entry. We may reject entries out of hand if we think it unlikely an entrant has, or can realistically obtain, rights to use such content.
• Come and talk to us on Facebook if you have any questions. We will be actively answering questions there throughout the competition.
• Good luck!

Enter the Competition here