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Smart TVs must showcase Australian free-to-air channels alongside streaming services under proposed legislation

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/feb/06/free-to-air-tv-prominence-legislation-australia-proposal-streaming-channels

New devices would need to provide easy access to free-to-air networks, pre-install their video-on-demand apps and present separate tiles

Smart TVs must showcase Australian free-to-air channels alongside streaming services under proposed legislation

22 comments

Eggyhead

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Can I just get a cheaper option that has no software whatsoever?

OwlPaste

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All i want for Christmas is a large dumb tv

circuscritic

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Hard to find, and unnecessary, as long as it has HDMI ports.

I have NEVER hooked up a smart TV to the Internet, and they work just fine with my digital boxes.

Same goes for the Blu-ray player that has Netflix, fuck that noise.

If there's a dumb option that is cheaper, go for it. Just don't think you have to pay a premium for it, when you can just not put the TV on your network.

clgoh

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I feel that they will soon have built-in 5G that you can't disable, to phone home.

HelloHotel

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Like u/circuscritic said, its expensive to use 5g modems here, so they have to:

leach off the negbors guest wifi,
hostage the consumer until they give you internet
use 3g or 4g modems.

For option 1 or 3: or rip out the antennas/put it in a faraday cage. (Yes, tinfoil works)

For option 3 only: remove the sim card if possable.

For option 2: not much I can say but buy a tv without option 2. Try buying a model no later than 2021-22 ish.

circuscritic

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That would be incredibly expensive. 5G modems are not cheap, and I can't imagine there's enough consumer demand that would justify the additional upfront cost and ongoing recurring charges. They'd be in clearance bins within a year or two.

I'm sure some niche displays already have embedded 5G WWAN modems, but they'd be commerical displays for digital signage, videoconferencing, etc. Those won't be cheap, or consumer standard issue anytime soon.

Mongostein

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That would require a subscription to a 5G carrier, which would be crazy expensive here.

I can’t remember which brands, but some have been found to connect to any open wifi network to do it.

TragicNotCute

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They basically did the same thing several decades ago with Kindles and whispernet. It’s not really that crazy.

Mongostein

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Sure, but that required a partnership with carriers for a legitimate use. I hope none of the carriers would allow use of their networks for things that don’t need it, but who knows?

TragicNotCute

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You’re right. They care about our privacy and would never do anything to sully that trust. Certainly not through a partnership with an electronics manufacturer that pays them to do it…

Kanzar

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Lucky (?) for me I live in a mobile service blackspot...

RedWeasel

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I would be willing to pay more as they are subsidizing the cost with the advertising. I have seen computer monitors are coming with ‘smart’ functionality now. Don’t want that.

HelloHotel

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Is it okay to start covering things with tinfoil yet?, I have herd rumors that these "smart" things are so internet access horny they will steal the negbors guest wifi.

Spotlight7573

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Something like Amazon Sidewalk could be used by a device to send back telemetry theoretically but I haven't heard of it actually being used for that. Connecting to an open Wi-Fi network or through some partnership with an ISPs (like Xfinity) seems like the easiest thing a device could do though.

https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Sidewalk/

mundane

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What in the actual fuck

HelloHotel

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Oh man, I forgot about that beutiful thing.

Spotlight7573

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Removing the software wouldn't make it cheaper considering where TV manufacturers are making their money nowadays. The choice would be between a cheap smart TV and a more expensive dumb TV. This has been going on for years.

From 2021:

https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/10/22773073/vizio-acr-advertising-inscape-data-privacy-q3-2021

It’s been less than a year since Vizio became a publicly traded company, and one consequence of that is we know more about its business than ever before. The TV maker released its latest earnings report on Tuesday and revealed that over the last three months, its Platform Plus segment that includes advertising and viewer data had a gross profit of $57.3 million. That’s more than twice the amount of profit it made selling devices like TVs, which was $25.6 million, despite those device sales pulling in considerably more revenue.

Then there's this taken to the extreme:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/15/23721674/telly-free-tv-streaming-ilya-pozin-ads

There’s a new type of TV coming [...], and it’s completely free if you don’t count the price of your attention — or data. Telly [...] offers up a TV that makes up for its nonexistent price tag by showing constant advertisements in a second, smaller display.

nudnyekscentryk

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This is fair, but let's hope this doesn't make the FTA-related apps un-uninstallable

fatalError

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With Google TV/Android TV almost anything can be uninstalled or at least disabled with ADB.

rusticus

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Meanwhile in the corporatism government called the US, broadcasters are encrypting OTA broadcasts to make it virtually impossible to view or record or skip commercials. All while using public owned airwaves.

spez_

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Libreelec