Index: channels/__init__.py
==================================================================
--- channels/__init__.py
+++ channels/__init__.py
@@ -41,11 +41,12 @@
 import inspect
 
 
 # Only export plugin classes
 __all__ = [
-    "GenericChannel", "ChannelPlugin", "use_rx"
+    "GenericChannel", "ChannelPlugin", "use_rx",
+    "entity_decode", "strip_tags", "to_int", "nl"
 ]
 
 
 
 # generic channel module                            ---------------------------------------
@@ -165,12 +166,12 @@
         # add to main menu
         uikit.add_menu([parent.channelmenuitems], self.meta["title"], lambda w: parent.channel_switch_by_name(self.module) or 1)
 
 
     # Statusbar stub (defers to parent/main window, if in GUI mode)
-    def status(self, *v):
-        if self.parent: self.parent.status(*v)
+    def status(self, *args, **kw):
+        if self.parent: self.parent.status(*args, **kw)
         else: log.INFO("status():", *v)
 
 
         
     #--------------------- streams/model data accesss ---------------------------
@@ -547,13 +548,10 @@
 
     #--------------------------- utility functions -----------------------
 
     
 
-    # remove html <tags> from string        
-    def strip_tags(self, s):
-        return re.sub("<.+?>", "", s)
         
     # convert audio format nick/shortnames to mime types, e.g. "OGG" to "audio/ogg"
     def mime_fmt(self, s):
         # clean string
         s = s.lower().strip()
@@ -574,31 +572,10 @@
         if s.find("/") < 1:
             s = "audio/" + s
         #
         return s
     
-    # remove SGML/XML entities
-    def entity_decode(self, str):
-        return re.sub('&(#?(x?))(\w+);', self._entity, str)
-    def _entity(self, sym):
-        num, hex, name = sym.groups()
-        if hex:
-            return unichr(int(name, base=16))
-        elif num:
-            return unichr(int(name))
-        else:
-            return unichr(htmlentitydefs.name2codepoint[name])
-    
-    # convert special characters to &xx; escapes
-    def xmlentities(self, s):
-        return xml.sax.saxutils.escape(s)
-    
-    # Extracts integer from string
-    def to_int(self, s):
-        i = re.findall("\d+", s) or [0]
-        return int(i[0])
-
 
 
 
 
 
@@ -686,10 +663,11 @@
 
         # add notebook tab
         tab = parent.notebook_channels.insert_page_menu(vbox, ev_label, plain_label, -1)
         parent.notebook_channels.set_tab_reorderable(vbox, True)
 
+
 
 # WORKAROUND for direct channel module imports,
 # eases instantiations without GUI a little,
 # reducing module dependencies (conf. / ahttp. / channels. / parent.) would be better
 def stub_parent(object):
@@ -713,5 +691,39 @@
                 continue
         return []
     return try_both
 
 
+
+#---------------- utility functions -------------------
+# Used by raw page extraction in channel modules
+
+
+# Strip html <tags> from string
+def strip_tags(s):
+    return re.sub("<.+?>", "", s)
+
+# remove SGML/XML entities
+def entity_decode(str):
+    return re.sub('&(#?(x?))(\w+);', _entity, str)
+def _entity(sym):
+    num, hex, name = sym.groups()
+    if hex:
+        return unichr(int(name, base=16))
+    elif num:
+        return unichr(int(name))
+    else:
+        return unichr(htmlentitydefs.name2codepoint[name])
+
+# Extracts integer from string
+def to_int(s):
+    i = re.findall("\d+", s) or [0]
+    return int(i[0])
+
+# Strip newlines
+rx_spc = re.compile("\s+")
+def nl(str):
+    return rx_spc.sub(" ", str).strip()
+
+
+def unhtml(str):
+    return nl(entity_decode(strip_tags(str)))