Telly, the free 4K TV (provided you’re willing to have your information gathered by advertisers) has officially begun shipping to customers. When the TV’s waitlist opened earlier this year, Telly said that they planned to ship 500,000 units by the end of 2023. While there is no official word on how many of the free TV are being shipped in this initial round, we do know that 250,000 units were already reserved only a month after the waitlist’s opening.
Telly has since announced that in addition to working with Microsoft, MNTN, and Magnite on the TV’s ad system, they are partnering with Nielson to “collect and interpret first-of-its-kind viewership and ad effectiveness insights” for more effective ads and programming.
The following was originally published May 16, 2023:
Pluto TV co-founder Ilya Pozin has come up with a completely new concept for a TV company. Pozin’s company, Telly, is turning heads by offering their TV for free. To compensate for the cost, the TV comes with a smaller screen beneath it, separated by a soundbar, that will display ads.
“When I co-founded Pluto TV, we created an entirely new model that offered amazing TV content to viewers for free,” Pozin said in a statement. “Now, with Telly, we are providing the actual television for free as well.”
Ads will be relegated to the secondary screen, which the company calls the “Smart Display,” which can offer display widgets like weather or stock updates. The company says that the main screen can display ads while the TV is off, and that they are coming up with new ways to have users interact with both displays.
See also: LG rolling out 2023 features to select 2020-2022 soundbars
The main screen is a 55-inch 4K HDR display that comes with a built-in camera. While the camera does have a privacy shutter, Telly says the device will “may collect information about the audio and video content you watch, the channels you view, and the duration of your viewing sessions,” along with “physical presence of you and any other individuals using the TV at any given time.” Opting out of data collection comes with a real cost, as it means the TV will no longer be free:
“You have the right to opt-out of sharing your Viewing and Activity Data, but unfortunately, that means you will no longer have access to the Services [and must return the television]. If you opt out and do not return the television to Telly, Telly will charge the credit card on file in the amount of $500.00.”
Telly’s OS doesn’t support third party streaming apps, but as a work-around, the TV ships bundled with a 4K Android TV dongle, and is compatible with other streaming devices via 2 USB inputs.
Reservations are currently available at https://www.freetelly.com/, with plans to begin shipping this summer.
