If you are the creator of the Portlet, why not implement those states yourself ?
On the state minimized, remove the main canvas. If the state is maximized, add the main canvas again ( with all its children ). etc. That main canvas is an mx:canvas that you add to your component. When others use your component they can set the component to the "minimized" state, which will remove the main canvas from your comp's displaylist. This way, you control everthing and the behaviour is consistent throughout the app. btw: nice website and custom design on the b.tv site. As a little remark: those thumbnails in the "portlets" look very pixelated, they could use a higher quality.
