Telly to Give Away 500k Free 4K TVs with a Second Screen Showing Constant Ads

Telly to Give Away 500k Free 4K TVs with a Second Screen Showing Constant Ads(variety.com)

7 points by maxwelldone 3 years ago | 2 comments

ajdude 3 years ago |

> What’s new and different: The unit has a 9-inch-high second screen, affixed to the bottom of the set, which is real estate Telly will use for displaying news, sports scores, weather or stocks, or even letting users play video games. And, critically, Telly’s second screen features a dedicated space on the right-hand side that will display advertising — ads you can’t skip past and ads that stay on the screen the whole time you’re watching TV… and even when you’re not.

> “Telly is giving away the device completely free,” said Pozin, the company’s founder and CEO. “The business will be entirely supported by advertising and affiliate revenue.”

I wonder how difficult this would be to just cover up or otherwise disable the second screen. Do you have to confirm that you saw the head here in there to continue watching? Will they will be viewer-facing cameras?

defrost 3 years ago | |

For better or worse if I was in the US I'd sign up for a free Telly specifically to have a "smart TV" to play about with and explore alternate firmware | blocking, etc.

I don't know how tight the terms of service are in order to compel keeping the 24|7 ads streaming and|or the telemetrics that check that no mods have been made, but I'd bet good money they'll be a mod crowd happy to take a free TV and bend it to their ends.

I'm sure the click through includes "By accepting this free TV you agree to no alter it in any way" but I have no idea how binding that is in the US or elsewhere.