Miniweb Portal goes LIVE!

As a previous Sky Key owner, and new TV Key owner, we wanted to let you know that Miniweb’s new Portal and TV Keys Service has gone live across the Sky network, and your site can now be accessed by 8.8 million UK homes. All Sky Key owners were automatically transferred to Miniweb’s TV Key service following Miniweb’s buyout of the SkyKeys/Internet Sites Service, and you have been assigned the TV Key corresponding to your old Sky Key, on an initial 2 month trial basis.

To access the service on Sky, press ‘Interactive’ and 02 on the Sky remote. (Interactive button, select option 0 on the menu, then select option 2 - TV Keys)

Since taking over the SkyKeys/Internet Sites Service, Miniweb has been working on developing and improving the service and is very pleased to announce the launch of the new portal. The Miniweb portal is more user-friendly, with an improved look and feel and a number of exciting new features that will really enhance the user experience.

Key New Features/Benefits

• The new service is now FREEPHONE - This is a huge change, and will greatly increase consumer usage of the service, generating more traffic to your site.
• Updated Search function - The new Search function is now a deep-linking, categorised keyword search, making it much easier for the user to find the content they want - and your site!
• Sky subscriber database access - The new service links into the Sky subscriber database, enabling auto form fill, so that users don’t need to enter their personal details every time they complete a form on a TV site. This will enhance and speed up consumer activity on TV sites.

Other developments are in progress and will be launched on the platform later this year.

IMPORTANT! - You need to make some changes to your site

Your site is currently Live. In order for your site to continue working on the Miniweb platform, there are a number of things that you need to do:

1. Changes to the code - You need to make some changes to the code of your site toensure that it is pointing to the new Miniweb portal. Full details of these changes can be found here on the Community Site.
2. 30 day window - You will need to make these changes to your site by 30 June 08, or your site will stop working. On this date a new, improved Spider will be run and will close down any sites which do not meet the new requirements.  This is to ensure continuity of user experience, and the spider will notify you of any errors that need to be fixed. You will need to run our test spider across your site before this date to ensure that your site meets the standards. The new spider is more reliable, much faster, and has far better error reporting.
3. Your Site Control password needs to be reset - You will need to go to Site Control and click on reset your password. Your new password details will then be emailed to your registered email address.
4. Transactional site? - If your site is transactional, please contact Miniweb for more information on what you need to do.

HELP! - Post a message on the Community Site Forum or contact Miniweb for advice and further information.

Your TV Key

Currently, your live site can only be accessed using the Search functionality on the Miniweb portal or by users knowing and entering the full site URL.

The old Sky Keys are now TV Keys. These work in the same way, giving you a shortcode TV Key that allows users to easily access your site. Depending on what your original Sky Key was, your TV Key will be either generic, so that your site appears under a listing for that keyword, or brand specific and exclusive to you. TV keys can be local, regional or national.

To get your new TV Key graphics, contact Miniweb

Now that the service has gone live, Miniweb will be working with broadcasters to heavily promote the TV Key concept to end-users, so that it becomes the recognised method of accessing site content on the TV. 

You should also be starting to promote your TV Key through your advertising, to encourage viewers to visit your site.

After your two month trial period expires on 31 July, you will need to purchase your TV Key if you want to keep it. You can also purchase additional TV Keys.

For more information or to purchase a TV Key go to www.tvkeys.co.uk These TV Keys are selling fast, and are limited, so make sure that the 8.8 million homes currently with access to the service find your site rather than your competitor’s!

Community Site

If you plan to update your current site, then there are a number of new features on the Community site that might interest you:

• New Emulator release - The new emulator now reflects the live Miniweb portal, so you can accurately see how your site will appear. You can download the emulator from the Tools section of the Community Site.
• Updated documentation - Documentation on the site has been updated and a number of new documents will be uploaded soon.
• New WTVML site templates - There are a number of new, more sophisticated design templates that you can use to help you build or extend your site.

Log into the Community Site for more information.

The Future

With the service now live, there will be lots more developments and new features coming over the next few months. We will be keeping you updated as things progress, but we would also welcome any feedback from you.

The next key stage in development will be a move to multi-platform distribution, meaning that your site and TV Keys can be accessed and used outside of the Sky network. We are currently in discussions regarding this and more information will be available soon.