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According to Doug Lynch at xda-developers.com:
Android TV owners recently received an update across multiple platforms that have started to display sponsored content with a "Promotional Channels' title in the launcher of the Android TV software. We're currently seeing reports that it has shown up in Sony smart TVs, the Mi Box 3 from Xiaomi, NVIDIA Shield TV, and others. This has been an incredibly off-putting change for a lot of Android TV users. What makes matters worse is people were unable to disable the ads at first, but Reddit user Felisens seems to have figured out how to disable them.
[...] Update: Google's response
A Google spokesperson gave us the following statement:
Android TV is committed to optimizing and personalizing the entertainment experience at home. As we explore new opportunities to engage the user community, we're running a pilot program to surface sponsored content on the Android TV home screen.
(Score: 2) by Farkus888 on Friday April 05 2019, @05:02PM (4 children)
I know you are making a joke, but I'll say it anyway. If it is connected to the internet, they can tell what you are watching.that stands even if you only watch hdmi input.
I'm not saying no one is able to spy on me. I like the conveniences in trade. By limiting the number of people holding a copy of my life story I improve my odds of staying out of breaches though.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by NotSanguine on Friday April 05 2019, @05:32PM (3 children)
I have a Vizio "smart" tv (and yes, I am aware of the spying and other nastiness they do).
However, I use it as a dumb monitor. I don't even switch HDMI inputs, as it's just plugged into an HDMI output jack on my A/V receiver (not network connected).
What's more, to keep the Vizio from sneakily connecting to any available WiFi network (it certainly can't connect to mine), Initially, I just didn't connect it to a network at all. But then I noticed that it was trying to connect to every WiFi network it could see, even after I disabled WiFi.
So now I'm using wired ethernet and a static IP address (I suppose I could do this with WiFi too, but I have the extra port and I don't want the Vizio searching for some open WiFi somewhere. I do egress filtering on my firewall to block *all* traffic from the Vizio device. I also created dummy DNS zones on my local DNS servers for the domains that the Vizio attempts to contact and have 'A' records pointing back at the Vizio TV.
I suppose this would work for Android TVs too, assuming you don't wish to the use the "smart" capabilities.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 06 2019, @08:14AM (2 children)
Ethernet over HDMI [hdmi.org].
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Saturday April 06 2019, @10:29AM (1 child)
And where does it go from there? The AV receiver has no network connectivity of any kind. What's more, the Vizio itself is blocked from sending *any* traffic to the Internet.
Given that I said all that in the post to which you replied, what's your point?
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 08 2019, @01:11AM
If your AV receiver is a cable box, it can get your data out.