To receive the free TV, Telly users must submit detailed demographic info (such as age, gender and address), as well as purchasing behaviors, brand preferences and viewing habits, and they must agree to let their data be used for serving targeted ads. Telly’s TVs include a sensor that detects how many people are in front of the screen at any given moment.
So what’s the catch? Telly users must agree to several conditions under the company’s terms of service. If someone doesn’t abide by the TOS, Telly reserves the right to demand the TV be shipped back — otherwise, it will charge up to $1,000 to the credit card associated with a given account.
Among the Telly TV requirements: You must “use the product as the primary television in your household”; you must keep the TV connected to the internet at all times; and you are not allowed to use any ad-blocking software. In addition, users may not make “physical modifications to the product or attach peripheral devices to the product not expressly approved by Telly,” the company says in its terms of service. “Any attempt to open the product’s enclosure will be deemed an unauthorized modification.”
Why don’t we just invite big brother right into our living rooms, eh?
Also, I guess you need approval to connect an Xbox, Playstation, or set-top box? What about my htpc?
That’s a weird mix between 15 million merits and 1984. Holy shit. Makes me feel kinda uneasy
If I’m blocking ads with e.g. a Pi Hole, does that violate this? In that case I’m not running ad blocking software on the unit itself. Can they realistically dictate what people do outside of the product?
Edit: and for that matter, if my internet goes out but I still use my TV, am I then liable for my ISP’s outage?
Yes, using pihole would violate their ToS: https://www.freetelly.com/terms-of-service
(a) Use the Product as the primary television in Your household;
(b) Keep the Product connected to WiFi and internet; and
(c ) Not use any software on Your WiFi network that with advertising blocking capability.
(d) Not make physical modifications to the Product or attach peripheral devices to the Product not expressly approved by Telly. Any attempt to open the Product’s enclosure will be deemed an unauthorized modification.
If we discover that You are not abiding by the requirements above or have disconnected the Product from an internet connection or WiFi for more than short periods each month, You will no longer be able to use the Service and You must return any Products in your possession to Telly. Failure to return Products to Telly will result in Telly charging the credit card on file. If you do abide by the Terms of Service, your credit card will not be charged.
Hold on, let me just hang a curtain in front of the secondary screen.
There, so much better :)
Did you miss the fact that this TV has a camera that can count the number of viewers and can detect obstruction? Obstructing the ad screen broke the ToS and when they detect it, they can cancel your account and demand you too send the tv back or get charged $1000. Oh, and it’s also have a microphone in addition to the camera, which will double the fun.
This is obviously tongue-in-cheek but I didn’t find anything on the TOS about obstructing the screen - a curtain isn’t software, nor is it a modification to the TV, and could possibly be hung in a way that doesn’t obstruct the sensor.
They can change their ToS at any time, so this doesn’t really matter.
You’re right. Perhaps they count on their users to not obstruct the secondary screen because the smart tv features are controlled from the secondary smart screen, so you won’t be able to operate it if you obstruct the secondary screen.
solution, route your network through a VPN with advertising blocking. It isn’t your network that does the blocking
Interesting that it specifically says WiFi network. I wonder if you could circumvent by having something on your physical network. Or maybe upstream from your own network
Damn. That’s some crazy shit.
The part about keeping it connected to internet also struck me - what happens if my internet goes down for hours? Or my power, which will take my internet with it?
You send it back or get charged.
So basically, you can “buy” one of these for $1000.
$249 for an Insignia 55” 4k tv at best buy right now. Come on people, sell some plasma, don’t buy contribute to this kind of thing.
Meh, your TV cost money while this TV is free, have an extra screen (for ads) and have built-in camera and microphone too! All I need to do is to connect it 24/7 to internet. Such a great deal! No one would give free TV to me, except probably my brother, so you could probably say the company is like a big brother to me.
You guys get paid for donating plasma?
Wait, you guys donate your plasma?
Yeah you get some free snacks but you do it to save a few lives
You do it to save lives…I do it for the sweet, sweet 4k tv’s
We had a baby and just paid for parking at the hospital. So there’s that too.
If you get paid is it really a donation?
Love your username
“The telescreen in 1984 was a device that could be dimmed, but it could not be shut off Completely.” We keep getting closer and closer.
This is the bad place
Hm
free-pc beat them to the punch by two decades.
This business model has been tried before. It doesn’t really work.
This time it may actually work though. All they need to do is just showing you constant ads in the extra attached screen based on contents currently shown on the tv as well as your profile data (that you voluntarily submit during registration). They already got your credit card so if you violate their term and causing them to lose advertising money, they’ll just charge the tv cost to your CC (or send it to collection if the charge bounce).
Also, internet advertising was not as advanced as today. These days those ads companies can figure out how to make money just by collecting your online and media consumption habits. Something as intrusive as a tv with capability to inspect what displayed on screen will certainly worth a lot of money to the advertisers. And this tv actually have a camera and microphone too! An ideal customer data mining device.
Maybe. But people don’t like ads any more now then they did back then.
And I have a tough time believing they can squeeze the cost of a TV out of an individual through ads, but I guess we’ll see.
The TV cost would probably be paid off in a year with just $1 worth of ads per day. If they earn, say, $5/1000 impressions of ads (which is a bit on the low side for US citizens’ eyeballs), they’ll just need to show you 200 ads per day to earn $1 just from ad impressions. Assuming the TV is on about 8 hours per day, that’s just 1 ads every 2.5 minutes.
They’ll probably show more ads than this, and have deals with smart tv app makers to install their apps in the smart tv, and collect and sell customer profile data in the ad market as well, so I think it’s not hard to imagine they can profit from the TV, as long as they run the service competently.
8 hours a day is a lot of TV, though I guess they wouldn’t be aiming this at people with a regular 9-5 job. On the other hand, the folks in that demographic probably wouldn’t be as valuable to advertisers.
1 commercial every 2.5 minutes also sounds awful, but between MythTV and Netflix I haven’t watched ads for a very long time now, so maybe my sense of timing is out of whack and I guess it was ~8 minutes of ads for a 30 minute show for a long time which isn’t too far off your proposed schedule.
Unlike regular TVs, this TV has a dedicated screen attached at the bottom that show nothing but ads, so it’s not comparable with showing ads in a show. They’ll be showing ads at the bottom of the show, constantly, like an ad banner in a website.
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When I was younger… at least I got hi
Anyway, yeah teevee aint worse it, jfc
Made me think of the TVs in Idiocracy.
In reality, Jackass may as well have been called “Ow my balls!”
or maybe even just “Ass”
This is the most dystopian thing I’ve seen recently.
Yeah a free TV but it has ads. The fucking humanity. Imagine being so privileged you can’t see the value in this.
And privacy invading camera and microphone so they can spy on you!
From their website:
Now, all smart TVs come with ads. But you still pay for the TV. All of that changes today. During the signup process we ask questions about you and your household to optimize your ad experience. Brands in turn, pay for the non-intrusive ad on the Smart Screen. That’s how you get Telly free. Plain and simple. It’s time you got cut in on the deal.
They do have a point though. Is there any smart TV maker that don’t put ads on their TV?
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My LG TV doesn’t have ads
LG TVs seems to have ads too: https://lgads.tv/
What’s your specific TV model? I’ve been looking for 4K TV without ads and can’t find anything good.
Buy a commercial grade non-smart display and it won’t have any of that shit.
It’s just a big monitor w inputs and no apps. Never connect it to a network.
That said, I have been using Visio my last few personal displays, don’t use the built in apps, and run everything through my playstation. Haven’t had any issues.
I wish you hadn’t made such a good point.
Jesus Christ. Reading that article is terrifying. Is this the future we’re doomed with? Do people just not care?
I hate this idea, but I’d really like to get my hands on one of those second screens to play around with.
This will get funny once they try to ship it to Germany, because you’re legally allowed to do pretty much everything with your device - as long as it’s legally yours.
Bro if I was still broke af I would see this as a win, even if it is a little Black Mirror-esque.
*edit nm this shit is creepy I’d rather fix a tv I found on the side of the road than use this thing.
A little??
Okay I read the article and it’s way more dystopian than a free tv in exchange for ads. This thing is pretty creepy.
I didn’t realize it has like a camera counting the viewers and their participation, and that you had to use it exclusively as your main tv, and that you can’t even put stuff in front of the ad screen.
Jesus Christ.
The fact that some people will ultimately go for this makes me sick. Not that the company doesn’t also make me sick, but come on. So many examples out there where voting with a wallet should shut stupid shit down, and boom! It sticks around.
Well that’s a glimpse into a horrifying hellscape.
