Numeric channel tuner and directory server for media and services

A method for a numeric directory server, comprising:

• receiving a request to provide access to user devices to content or services, the request including a channel number and a user identifier;
• determining a uniform resource locator for a server associated with the channel number within the received request;
• transmitting a notification indicating the uniform resource locator for the server associated with the channel number;
• and
• communicating data associated with at least one of the content and the services.

An apparatus for a user side device utilizing a numeric directory server, comprising:

• one or more processors configured to execute computer program modules, the computer program modules comprising:
• an interface configured to receive commands from a user associated with a channel number;
• a communications module configured to transmit a request including the channel number and a user identifier to a first server to receive access to media content or online services from a second server, and the communications module being configured to receive the media content or the online services over a broadband communications network associated with the request, wherein the media content or the online services are received as determined by the uniform resource locator associated with the channel number within the transmitted request;
• and
• a display configured to present media to the user associated with the received content or the received services.

A system comprising:

• one or more processors configured to execute computer program modules, the computer program modules comprising:
• a subscriber profile services module configured to track a user status of a user, the user status being responsive to content or services currently being broadcast by a server to the user associated with a uniform resource locator for the server;
• a broadcast server module configured to track a broadcast status of the server, the broadcast status being responsive to the content or the services currently being broadcast by the server to the user associated with the uniform resource locator for the server;
• and
• a communication module being configured to transmit a notification to at least one of the server or the user, the notification including at least one of the user status or the broadcast status.

A method comprising:

• tracking a user status of a user responsive to content or services currently being broadcast by a server to the user associated with a uniform resource locator for the server;
• tracking a broadcast status of the server responsive to the content or the services currently being broadcast by the server to the user associated with the uniform resource locator for the server;
• and
• transmitting a notification to at least one of the server or the user, the notification including at least one of the user status or the broadcast status.

A method for assigning channel numbers, the method comprising:

• crawling one or more websites to identify a first set of websites providing content or services by parsing objects found in markup languages for the one or more websites;
• analyzing the parsed objects using one or more policies to identify a second set of websites to be further processed, the second set of websites being a subset of the first set of websites;
• selecting content and uniform resource locators from the second set of websites configured to be presented to users;
• performing compatibility testing on the content or the services and uniform resource locators associated with the second set of websites;
• creating channels for the selected content associated with the second set of websites;
• and
• transmitting information associated with the created channels, the transmitted information including a channel number and uniform resource locator corresponding to each created channels.