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Remove or hide Rakuten / TV plus - how?

(Topic created on: 29-01-2019 10:56 PM)
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adm1n
Apprentice
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I have a new UE43NU7020 and am disappointed that upon turning it on I am presented with a loud, blaring stream of advertisements for a PAY TV company called Rakuten under the guise of an app called TV plus.

This is unacceptable in many levels

 

  • The sheer intrusion of having my television default to streaming (on my internet connection, not samsungs) advertisements attempting to lure me into purchasing something that I do not want to
  • The fact that my TV crashes about 50% of the time when these adverts kick off
  • The material being shown is not suitable for children to the fact that 
  • The interface of this TV hangs and crashes when I turn it on due to this irritating and unwanted application when all I want to do is startup Plex, Twitch or sometimes Youtube but most often something that I have plugged into the USB port.  I cannot do these things half of the time because of this TV Plus app blaring out asian bollywood movies at unacceptably high volume and annoying, distracting and often showing content that I do not want my children to see.
  • I literally cannot turn this TV on while the children are in the room.  This is pathetic, I cannot even turn my own TV on when I want to because of this app

I have unchecked these rouge channels form the channel list but what do you know, they come right back after a restart

 

I have blocked the Rakuten servers on my DNS server by directing them to 0.0.0.0 but what do you know?, Rakuten keep changing the domains that they use for this nuisance .

 

I thought I would just remove the default gateway in the network settings and prevent the entire TV from going on line and sacrifice the "smart" aspect of this but no, it only supports DHCP, you cannot even set an IP address manually.

I have tried to remove the app but it comes right back at the default input so that it is always playing when the TV is turned on.

I have been a loyal customer, never looking at other manufacturers for over ten years but this is too much, you have completely broken faith and abused the customer relationship with this overt and aggressive marketing.

I have not consented to this application running on my hardware and I have not consented to allow it to use my internet connection to stream ads to me.

I called the call centre to try to find out how to get rid of this and was told that there was no way and to live with it.

Samsung: This is unacceptable and if you really thought that this would be a good idea (there is no way that Rakuten is paying you enough to cover the losses you will make from people simply learning about this and choosing a clean TV instead from an ethical manufacturer) then you could have at least tested it to make sure that it would not impair the normal operations of the TV.

I wasted 400 pounds on this piece of junk that is an otherwise average but acceptable TV but you have rendered it useless with this one application.

I welcome a solution to this problem but if none is forthcoming then this is going on ebay and I'll just get an LG.  My next TV in the living room is approaching the end of it's life, that will be an LG too and the hundreds of TV that I specify and purchase at work for use in large network operations centres will also be LG or some other ethical supplier and never again will I use a Samsung product.  The same goes for mine and my families phones, if I cant trust to with a TV then how am I to trust you with a phone?

As you can see by now, I am very irritated with this unnecessary intrusion into my life and instead of sitting here watching game of thrones I am typing this while a frozen screen with a bollywood advert and a frozen menu are on the screen before me.

 

 

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32 REPLIES 32
Sundownesr
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No auto tuning is shown.  I've now wasted an hour on the TV Plus *****.  Tell your higher ups, I will never purchase another Samsung TV.

Mama2Miriam
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I don't even have TV plus or live streaming (refuse to pay the TV TAX) ... and believe in free choice ... yet our basic human rights are being violated in our own homes!!!

FlyingJaffaCake
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Thanks to adm1n for the post.  I found the principle offender was 'rakuten.tv'. Blocking that at the DNS level killed the channel dead.  I had never played around with the DNS before but it's fairy straight forward given a few youttube tutorials.

 

Just be aware that the other domains that you listed, for example 'samsungcloudsolution', provide services such as remote control from the mobile app and connection to 'SmartThings' etc.

 

Also domains such as 'akamaiedge.net' serve websites such as BBC news so you might find yourself unblocking them again later on (if you're anything like me!).

 

 

Glfar
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hlpbob007
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This is the best solution... I just bought a UE55RU7099 and i am still in the trial period so I am really thinking of sending this stuff back... but this solution is really kick-ass. I simply locked all the free loud startup tv stuff. Now the tv turns on and ask the PIN to start the free loud tv stuff :smiling-face: really cool!!! no more loud start up... Thanks Spiritboy!
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Diglestat
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Just got my brand new Samsung have it all set up one day later it's stuck on the TV plus screen. everytime I try to watch something else or set something up for my grandchildren I'm stuck on the TV plus screen. as soon as you turn on the TV it goes straight to TV plus this is getting very old and I'm taking the TV back and will not buy another Samsung

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IMSpinSAM
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I found somewhere on the internet a solution that included removing a module within the TV which seemed risky. If I retrieve it, I will let you know. I have not done it myself, but will try. The problem is maddening, I know.
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ekaterinav
Apprentice
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The solution is here:

 

I found a way to completely disable the TV plus on the TV all together. Has been going for a few weeks now and not came back. I'm in the UK running a ue55nu7100

Turn the TV off first.. On the remote press info then settings then mute then power, when the TV loads back up you should have a blue over lay menu at the left hand side. 

Go to option, then "MRT Option" then in the list you will see "TV plus support" turn it off and reboot . Enjoy

Please don't mess about with any other settings in here I have no clue what they do. Hope it helps.


 

Bazza1968
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I think the Information Commissioner's Office will be very interested in this unwanted, not consented to marketing following the introduction of GDPR rules in 2018.  That's a job for tomorrow.

 

Anyway, I did the delete programs a couple of months back, but they've all turned up again. 24 of them!  Does anyone actually ever pay for that garbage?!

 

I noticed earlier in this thread from a Samsung employee that turning of auto retune should stop it happening again, we shall see.  But of course, that throws up the question that if a retune is needed, will they inbed themselves again? 

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Adam49
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I agree with everyone’s comments on here.  It’ll be a Samsung boycott from here on in.  No Samsung tv and I won’t be changing from my iPhone as I was considering.  This is a joke.  I’m trying switching off auto tuning and deleting the offending channels (I’ve just had to reset the smart hub which appears to have deleted all of my other apps.  Seriously WTF Samsung?!?