Hi Allan,
No, widgets must be uploaded to the gallery. You've probably seen this site which explains the process.

- Ben

Yes, you can run your widget without making it publicly available in the Yahoo widget gallery. You upload it using the upload tool.

So there are two answers...one yes and one no? Which is correct?

Sorry for any confusion about uploading your widget to the TV. Yes, you can upload your widget to a single TV using the Developer Settings on the TV. I posted a blog on how to do this that explains everything in detail: http://www.yctvblog.com/blog/2010/08/09/te...widget-on-a-tv/

"You can upload your widget as many times as you need for testing purposes. Once uploaded, you can then download your widget to specific Connected TV devices for specific test-users."

Hope that clears things up :)

The question was must you submit it to the gallery, not must the widget be publicly available. Those are two separate topics. But if you don't upload the widget to the gallery using the publishing tool then you won't be able to download it onto your tv. There's no other way to get it onto your tv but to upload it to the gallery. At a later date you can submit it to qa, but you could develop a widget just for yourself and your friends and never put it through the Y! approval process.

Keep in mind the gallery is in the cloud and can be filtered. Uploading your widget to the gallery isn't synonymous with submitting it for approval.