Samsung to bake more internet ads into its TVs

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JimmyH

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#196618 6-Jun-2016 20:13

Just saw this story.

Apparently after trialling injecting ads into customers streamed video, Samsung has decided to use software updates to push ads to its TVs, including to older legacy models.

I actually have a Samsung smart TV which can do Lightbox, Netflix, TVNZ and TV3 directly. However, if they run with this awful model of trying to inject their own ads into my viewing experience, then it will be disconnected from my network pretty sharpish.

I also suspect that, unless this story turns out to be BS or Samsung reverses this policy, it means I am off Samsung products for the foreseeable future. However, I doubt it's BS - the Wall Street Journal (unlike Stuff) is still an actual newspaper with reporters and fact checking.

timmmay

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#1566741 6-Jun-2016 20:36

That would prevent me buying Samsung again.

I have an earlier Samsung "smart" tv, it won't even check for updates online any more. Not sure if Samsung turned the service off, it's broken, or it's not plugged in. Don't much care as I use Kodi on a Pi to display content.

rendezvous

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#1566753 6-Jun-2016 21:25

Why would anyone pay for a product that would force advertising on you? Also, if intrusive advertising is forced into already existing units, is that grounds for returning it? It's not what you agreed to buy is it.

Benoire

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#1566755 6-Jun-2016 21:32

rendezvous: Why would anyone pay for a product that would force advertising on you? Also, if intrusive advertising is forced into already existing units, is that grounds for returning it? It's not what you agreed to buy is it.

Now that would depend on the UELA when you opened the TV and connected it to your network... It might already have clauses setup to do just this...

loceff13

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#1566756 6-Jun-2016 21:34

The ad's in question can be turned off by opting out of their yahoo agreement in the settings. Not ideal but it's possible

Kopkiwi

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#1566835 7-Jun-2016 08:07

No intentions of ever buying a Samsung TV in that case. What a fkcing idiotic idea.

meesham

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#1566844 7-Jun-2016 08:56

Benoire:

rendezvous: Why would anyone pay for a product that would force advertising on you? Also, if intrusive advertising is forced into already existing units, is that grounds for returning it? It's not what you agreed to buy is it.

Now that would depend on the UELA when you opened the TV and connected it to your network... It might already have clauses setup to do just this...

An EULA can't override your consumer rights, IMO if a TV was purchased without built in advertising and it was then automatically updated to include it or you can't update it without the advertising then you should be able to return it as it's no longer fit for purpose.

I have no problem with devices that are up front about the advertising (eg the cheaper Kindle Fire) but this is terrible, if this is true Samsung will be at the bottom of my list.

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Benoire

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#1566845 7-Jun-2016 08:58

But if the online component when run said that it might have them as a future update and then you continued to use it, I would suspect that you would not have grounds for a return... If you had read that and gone that wasn't mentioned when I bought it, didn't use it and returned it straight away then I think you would be able to?

jmh

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#1566866 7-Jun-2016 09:36

"(Interestingly, the Wall Street Journal presents its own complaint against adblockers during a read of the piece, should you have one enabled.)"

It's not that interesting, advertising to fund free content is fine - I chose to read/avoid as I wish. Paying full price for a tv, only to have advertising forced on me is not the same thing at all. My first reaction would be to unplug the internet and buy an alternative streaming device. Be nice of them to offer multi-region apps. Wonder what the benefit of not doing that is.