Your Next TV Could Be Free (If You Don't Mind a Second Screen Dedicated to Ads)

UPDATE 5/15: Teevee has emerged from a 24-month stealth period with a new name—Telly—and plans to give away 500,000 free dual-screen smart TVs.

The online reservation system is now live, and customers can expect the first units to begin shipping this summer. There's just one catch: The television's second screen acts as a perpetual ticker, displaying targeted ads that you can't turn off.

Telly's unique form factor features a 55-inch 4K HDR display and an approximatly 10-inch smart screen separated by a built-in soundbar with voice control. The idea is to highlight news, sports scores, weather, stocks—and, of course, ads—on the second screen.

Gather friends and family around the TV to watch the big game while tracking fantasy scores. Read reviews and get content recommendations on movie night. Turn your living room wall into a digital billboard for restaurants, car dealers, etc.

"Companies are making billions of dollars from ads served on televisions, yet consumers have historically had to pay for both the TV and the content they watch. All of that changes today," Telly CEO and co-founder Ilya Pozin, former head of Pluto TV, said in a statement.

Consumers, after all, are getting a free television in exchange for ads. But while Pozin says the Telly is "by far the most advanced television ever developed," details about specs are scant. The company says only that the TV runs "modern hardware" and a "powerful chipset." Over-the-air updates will add "new and better experiences like AI and smart home control," the company says.

There's an HD camera for voice calls and interactive gaming, Telly says, and the TV comes with an unnamed "4K Android TV streaming stick." But it's unclear who manufactures the devices and which advertisers are on board.

Original Story 5/5:Would you like a free TV? How about if it included a second screen dedicated to streaming ads while you watched your favorite shows and movies?

As the Lowpass newsletter reports, via The Verge, that's exactly what Teevee Corporation is planning to offer consumers.

Teevee is a hardware startup created by Pluto TV co-founder Ilya Pozin. The idea is to offer consumers a TV set for free, but the design has been tweaked to support ads you can't turn off. As well as an integrated soundbar, the TV includes a second display that's roughly the same height as a phone display and stretches the entire width of the TV—imagine having a news ticker screen sat directly below your TV and you get the idea.

This won't be a smart TV and therefore will rely on dongles to access services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. The ads displayed on the second screen will be relevant to whatever a viewer is watching on the main display. However, Teevee also plans to offer access to a number of widgets that display information about the weather, news headlines, and sports scores. Managing the settings for the TV and widgets is expected to be handled via a mobile app.

For now, Teevee Corporation is operating in stealth mode so a lot could change before this free TV set is officially announced. No response was forthcoming from Teevee when Lowpass asked for comment regarding the company's plans, but the Teevee website suggests it's launching before the end of 2023.

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