That is harder that it sounds in many places, because you don't get to (easily) control the radio signals that cross your house. Windows set a (very bad) precedent a long time ago that devices auto-connect to new networks, so your TV could be using your neighbor's wifi automatically.
That's just the short term problem while 802.11 chips are the cheap device preferred by hardware manufacturers. This will get a lot harder to block when the LTE/WiMAX/HSPA/etc chips become cheaper and the device manufacturers start negotiating deals with the network owners for cheap low-priority batch-job rates. Your TV can store what you've been watching as long as necessary, and upload whenever the cellular network is quiet. Precedent for embedding a cellular radio already exists with "onstar".
I seriously doubt anybody checks that their electronic devices aren't uploading personal data at 3:27AM once or twice a week.
That's just the short term problem while 802.11 chips are the cheap device preferred by hardware manufacturers. This will get a lot harder to block when the LTE/WiMAX/HSPA/etc chips become cheaper and the device manufacturers start negotiating deals with the network owners for cheap low-priority batch-job rates. Your TV can store what you've been watching as long as necessary, and upload whenever the cellular network is quiet. Precedent for embedding a cellular radio already exists with "onstar".
I seriously doubt anybody checks that their electronic devices aren't uploading personal data at 3:27AM once or twice a week.