Just a matter of time before they start taking data updates and ads over an ATSC or FM subchannel.

My money’s on a joint venture with Comcast, Cox, Verizon, et al. to use the Wi-Fi access points their routers operate – even if you use your own router and block them, your neighbors almost certainly don’t. Most them already have business ties and would love to have better ad targeting data.

Man, at that point I would open up the back and snip/desolder the antenna itself. I hate ads on my TV, ESPECIALLY when I've already paid for the damn thing!

Sounds similar to Amazon Sidewalk...

That's highly speculative, but even if that did end up happening, the smart TVs sold today wouldn't magically gain that capability, especially if you keep it off the network and never update it.

Or 5g with a SIM card.

Fine with that, free data on my modem

You won't be able to remove it. It will be an eSIM.

Already happened with cars. That's what OnStar was/is.

I heard that some 2024 models refuse to go through the setup wizard without internet access. Not sure what happens if you disconnect it after setup though. But my Amazon Fire Stick already refuses to do anything without internet even though I could stream locally with vlc.

That’s a solid reason to return the tv, though it’s probably worth it to check online before purchasing one.

I wonder if this is a market specific thing, that is to say if it is turned on or off depending on which market you're in. For example I wonder if there are pertinent regulations applying in EU, if so I would expect it were turned off in EU.

I can confirm that at least the V4K43M-08 and the V4K50M-08 don't do that.

(It kind of implies you need to continue and update, but you can just go to HDMI and it doesn't bother you anymore.)