The free TV company Telly has started shipping its ad-supported TVs to its first wave of customers. Telly first opened its waitlist in May and plans on shipping 500,000 free TVs to customers by the end of 2023 — and “millions more” in 2024.Unlike most TVs, beneath Telly’s 55-inch 4K display is a smaller screen separated from the main display by a soundbar. That thinner display is dedicated to showing advertisements, which is the point of its business model.
To receive the free TV, Telly users must submit detailed demographic info (such as age, gender and address), as well as purchasing behaviors, brand preferences and viewing habits, and they must agree to let their data be used for serving targeted ads. Telly’s TVs include a sensor that detects how many people are in front of the screen at any given moment.So what’s the catch? Telly users must agree to several conditions under the company’s terms of service. If someone doesn’t abide by the TOS, Telly reserves the right to demand the TV be shipped back — otherwise, it will charge up to $1,000 to the credit card associated with a given account.
Among the Telly TV requirements: You must “use the product as the primary television in your household”; you must keep the TV connected to the internet at all times; and you are not allowed to use any ad-blocking software. In addition, users may not make “physical modifications to the product or attach peripheral devices to the product not expressly approved by Telly,” the company says in its terms of service. “Any attempt to open the product’s enclosure will be deemed an unauthorized modification.”