[simonh]

There's nothing wrong with it, if you are told about this up front and it's part of your purchasing calculation.

Retroactively adding ads to an ad-free device after the customer has purchased it, sometimes buying it specifically to avoid competing devices with ads, is inexcusable bullshit.

[shmolf]

If you subscribe to cable/satellite television, you expect there to be advertising. I'm not certain, but i suspect the agreement you sign while signing up for cable or streaming services, would include some sort of advertising clause.

Ie, u less a service explicitly promotes am ad-free experience, there should be no expectations of such.

[teekert]

I guess I can come to your house tomorrow and paint some ads on the walls, or were you promised an ad free experience?

[leesalminen]

How about their car’s infotainment system? Can we start showing them ads when stopped at a light or were they promised an ad free experience there as well?

[jiofih]

You’re late to the game, Ford is working on that already.

[ethbr0]

I mean, it's been the new hotness at gas stations for a minute now. Which is something childhood me never would have expected.

"Once screens and connectivity costs fall below a threshold, advertising is guaranteed to follow."

[jyrkesh]

This isn't about a service, it's about devices. The Google TV launcher is the de-facto UI for Android TV devices (like my Nexus Player, which is...7 YEARS OLD and now gets ads) and Google/Android TV-powered TVs, which are made by a bunch of different manufacturers. While my Nexus Player is rooted and I could theoretically install a different launcher, many of these TVs can't be modified. So if you purchased a TV thinking that it's smart capabilities were like a dumb OS UI into services like Netflix or Hulu (which may or may not have ads in their service agreement, as you point out), now they're getting pushed Amazon Fire-esque ads that prioritize spending money with Google from the UI over the services that you want to use.