Smart TV - Ads on the Menu Bar

[MrShak1982]

Surely there must be a way to disable this? If I'd known I'd be getting this I'd have brought a different brand. It's annoying me to the point where I'm serious considering getting rid. Sounds dramatic but it feels invasive. 

[HJD1]

The trouble is that if you reject the conditions you find that most of the apps like iPlayer, ITVhub, Prime etc. stop working after a week or two. If you don't let Samsung give you 'extra information'  the apps on Samsung's Smart Hub seem to not respond! Well that's what happens on my tv. Likewise if you want to use the voice control on the special Samsung remote that seemed so great at first "You need to agree to the Terms and Conditions before using voice interaction. Would you like to go to the agreement now?" . 

I have disconnected my tv from the internet and use an Amazon stick to access the apps. I now realise that the Smart Hub had been slowing down all the usual tv controls. The Freeview program guide appears quickly and I can whiz through the tv menus again. It no longer takes a couple of seconds to change channel. Presumably the Smart hub had been busy trying to give my almost 10 year old tv an information overload! 

[Ronan_77]

I have owned a very expensive Samsung Frame TV for about 6 months and have just in the last few days had a completely unwanted Samsung TV Plus app appear in the first position on my TV menu bar. I researched how to remove/hide it but now I am having Samsung advertising content appear on the menu of my TV!  I am so angry to now be finding out that what I thought was the expensive TV, I had bought for my living room is infact Samsung's digital advertising billboard, that I unwittingly have paid to install in my living room.

I have called them to say how angry I am about this and about the fact that instead of spending my evening enjoying watching TV, I am sitting in call queuing to explain to them what an appalling breach of trust and massively intrusive overreach this is. Someone will get back to me on this apparently.  I don't see how this is any different than my Alexa  deciding to blurt out unwanted advertisements in my living room.  Saying that I am 'disappointed' just does being to cover how I am feeling about this and I will get rid of this TV and never trust Samsung again if this cannot be resolved super quickly.

[MrShak1982]

Unfortunately, going by the information that Samsung has provided me (mentioned in this thread also) is that the ad functionality is hard coded! Which is something they should declare clearly up front, but they don't!

I delete the TV Plus app on a regular from the home screen but always makes its way back.

I have two other TVs, different manufacturers, but both Android and don't have any issues with ads.

I'll be replacing my Samsung, which is the main TV, with an Android powered TV asap!

[HJD1]

Samsung really are damaging their future sales. I own three Samsung TVs and a big Samsung Americanstyle Fridge Freezer. Our household used to have Samsung mobile phones but have already ditched them. As the TVs age and fail they will be replaced by a different brand. Samsung has managed to convert me from being a massive fan of the brand to someone who won't even look at buying anything from this company. Plenty of others to choose from.

[toca]

People have been complaining about this for over a year.  But there sales have not lagged.  The company made $11 Billion dollars more in their 2nd quarter alone this year compared to their Q2 last year.  The TV business is such a small part of their business, I'm sure they really don't care much if people don't like what they're doing.

[Pouryashamsi]

Yes and no:

People do care. But there are 7 billion people. So even if they ***** off 10 million people a year, it will take many years for them to start seeing a decline. 

now:

I had purchased my 50in TV for my company hallway. For my home, I only buy Sony. 
this Samsung was for my hallway in one of my small businesses. 
since then and because the ads pissed me off, I have bought 3 more 50in TVs for that business. 

so, instead of selling all 4, they only sold me 1 TV cause they pissed me off. Amazon fire TV has the same quality and you can buy them for $300-600.  I just bought a 4k 50in basic fire (not omni) for $300. 
If I an going to have sponsored content on my TV, I’ll go with Amazon cause it’s cheaper. 

So it does impact their business. But slowly. 

[HJD1]

I'm sure you are correct that they don't care. However, I did make the point they'd already lost my mobile phone custom and will also lose out on a three figure fridge freezer sale when the current Samsung stops working. A rough check on the last 10 years shows Samsung have had over £5k of my money. Most of that wasn't the TV business but their TV business is going to affect their other business as more people realise Samsung really doesn't give a xxxx about customers, only their money. So different to when they started out. I actually remember when they were the brand of best value, pay for the quality not the name. Now the quality is only mediocre and the price reflects the brand name.