[JohnBooty]

"We" are a tiny minority.

The vast majority of people just don't care and want the most TV for the least money.

It's a "tyranny of the majority" kind of situation. For TV manufacturers, it's not worth catering to the tiny minority of customers who think like us.

[tolbish]

How do you know that? I am going to go out on a limb here and say you have not done background research on TV manufacturers who focus exclusively on inexpensive dumb TVs, so how can you know it's not worth it to them?

It is entirely possible there are other factors as to why we are not buying from them right now, such as supplier-related issues unbeknownst to us.

In short, the economy is more complex than claiming "demand" and saying we are done.

[JohnBooty]

I have almost never heard anybody outside of the tech world express concern about this sort of data collection, and even most tech-savvy people I know explicitly reject the idea of caring about it.

Yes, admittedly this is anecdotal, but I am talking about an extended family/social circle of hundreds of people over the course of quite a few years. The odds of it being a massively unrepresentative sample are rather low.

Let's turn it around. How do you know that people are concerned about data collection?

All available evidence points to my assertion being correct. All sorts of "smart" devices, chock full of phone-home tracking, are flying off the shelves. There are alternatives, but they are quite niche.

[tolbish]

I am not talking about the demand for privacy, I am talking about the demand for dumb, inexpensive TVs. You are saying it is impossible to find a market that needs dumb, inexpensive TVs. But suppose all of those people saw an option for a cheaper TV that happened to be dumb. This line could even be sold by a major brand. Call it something like a "SimplySmart" line.

[JohnBooty]

Ah, I see the misunderstanding.

The "smart" functionality is how they achieve low prices. They subsidize the cost of the TV by selling your usage data. They may have deals with app providers as well - similar to how the price of a consumer laptop is subsidized by preloaded crapware.

[tolbish]

Suppose we were onto something?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24666968

[tolbish]

Come to think of it, I believe those brands for dumb, cheaper TVs exist. Check out Sceptre TVs. I will make sure I grab one for my next replacement.