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LG To Offer Subscriptions For Appliances And Televisions (theregister.com) 80

Posted by BeauHD from the money-generating-initiatives dept.
LG Electronics is planning to use ads streamed to its televisions and subscriptions services for its appliances to help boost revenue from $51 billion to $78 billion over the next six and a half years. The Register reports: "LG will innovate with a platform-based service business model that continuously generates profits, such as content and services, subscriptions and solutions, to the hardware-oriented businesses, which generate sales and profits at the time of purchase," the company said on Wednesday. LG called this a "customer engagement" centered business model that relies on appliances already present in customers' homes, such as 200-million strong fleet of its smart TVS currently already in use. Those tellies, including the premium end OLED and QNED TVs, will soon have content, services and product ads expanded in an attempt to turn the company into a media and entertainment service provider.

LG has already offered a taste of its intentions: in 2022 it revealed a scheme called "Evolving Appliances For You" that promised software upgrades to home appliances. The company offered the example of a family that moves to a different home, and different climate, and upgrades its clothes drier with routines suited to local conditions. The entrance to subscription media comprises part of what CEO William Cho described on Wednesday as a transformation for LG to a "smart life solutions company," a goal he's hoping to hit by 2030.
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LG To Offer Subscriptions For Appliances And Televisions More

LG To Offer Subscriptions For Appliances And Televisions

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  • Subscription means what? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by b0s0z0ku ( 752509 ) on Thursday July 13, 2023 @08:37PM (#63684213)
    Does it mean that the appliance will have extended features (Internet control, software updates), or will it stop working entirely unless you pay the mother (fucking) ship their mordida?
    • Thanks for the warning to not buy this already shitty and cheap brand. Before too long, there'll be no choice, but for now Life's Good!
      • LG actually have pretty decent LCD panels for their price range, they occasionally dump overstock with their name removed at no-name-brand prices just to clear inventory, you just have to know when you're definitely buying LG and not Happy Golden Luck 10,000 Years TV. As long as you don't connect it to any network after the initial firmware update when you first power it up it's fine.
        • Their OLED TVs are great, still some of the top performers out there.

          I just wouldn't allow them to connect to the internet tho....

          I believe I did on set up, and then disconnected them all.

          No problems so far.

          • Yup. For people looking for LG at no-name brand prices, a sure giveaway that you're buying an unbranded LG is the presence of their Magic Remote. I know some people dislike them but there's nothing better for dealing with annoying click-the-button-over-there UIs on TVs than that.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Potor ( 658520 )

      Does it mean that the appliance will have extended features (Internet control, software updates), or will it stop working entirely unless you pay the mother (fucking) ship their mordida?

      This is why "innovation" is a dirty word.

      • Merton's Theory of Deviance: "Innovation: using socially unapproved or unconventional means to obtain culturally approved goals."

      • Re:Subscription means what? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Friday July 14, 2023 @05:58AM (#63685053)

        Remember when we were all young and hopeful, and we welcomed every new change as a new opportunity? I remember the release of Win95 and how people who didn't even have a computer bought one because "that's the new and better one".

        Today, I fear change. I can't really point at anything in the past decade and say "yes, that was really an improvement without any strings attached". Am I getting old or is the world just getting shittier with every new generation of crap?

        • Am I getting old or is the world just getting shittier with every new generation of crap?

          You are certainly getting old, especially since you can recall how well Windows 95 was received.

          A sort of inside joke exists that goes like this, "ask her where she was on 9/11". In fact when I actually heard that line used in S1:E8 Prague of the TV show Succession, in the background, I busted up laughing. The idea is if your date can't recall where they were on 9/11, they're underage. You on the other hand...

          But climate change is running unabated and the agile process isn't doing squat, so there's that. B

    • I find it humorous that they think they will be able to charge me a fee to upgrade the software in my washer or dryer, based on 'climate change' (their example was 'moving to a new climate', but it's a small leap to 'climate change').

      They aren't talking about subscription services to keep appliances you've bought working, but that won't stop many here from not declaring that is their intent, and by gum, you'll never get them to pay to use their washer/dryer/dishwasher/etc. (I suspect many of the complainers

    • ..., or will it stop working entirely unless you pay the mother (fucking) ship their mordida?

      Some stupid business suite decided to turn Cory Doctorow's short story "Unauthorized Bread" and turn it into their business plan.

  • Good luck with that. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by msauve ( 701917 ) on Thursday July 13, 2023 @08:38PM (#63684221)
    LG's connected appliances features are close to worthless, not sure how they reasonably expect to monetize them. I've got an LG refrigerator/freezer. The app knows the temperatures it's set to, but not the actual temperatures inside. That's useless. We once left the freezer ajar enough that stuff started to thaw. No notification, because it only knew what the temp was supposed to be, not what it was.

    Also have an LG oven. The app keeps reporting that the oven needs cleaning, and has never gone through a cleaning cycle, although it has, multiple times. Worthless, and annoying.

    Definitely nothing I would pay to subscribe to.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dddux ( 3656447 )

      General population have very poor technological knowledge about any of these things, SmartTV sales showed that. What they're doing is just taking SmartTV to another level of total control of their devices and I'm sure people will buy them. That's not really questionable. What people who know what it means can do is educate people about it. I have never bought Smart TV in my life, or TV for that matter. Everything I need and most people on Slashdot need is right here on our computers. Which leads me to anoth

  • Internet goes out and your clothes don't wash

    Fuck that

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by SeaFox ( 739806 )

      Internet goes out and your clothes don't wash

      You mean don't pay up or your clothes don't wash?
      Just like on episode 1 of the Cyberpunk Edgerunners anime.

      YouBestStartBelievingInCyberpunkDystopias.jpg

  • We own three of their recent-model appliances: an LG washer, dryer, and refrigerator. However if LG starts trying to shove this sort of crap down our throats, we won't be buying from them anymore - it's not as if they're better than, say, Bosch or a few other companies.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by MeNeXT ( 200840 )

      LG makes less than average appliances. I own a LG fridge and a TV. The plastic in the fridge that holds the vegetable drawers started cracking just after the warranty expired. About a year and a half after purchase. By the second year plastic pieces started falling off. I stuck and screwed the plastic parts back on because parts were not available since they are moulded into the fridge. The old fridge that it replaced which is over 10 years old is holding up better....

      The TV constantly wants to update the

      • I only ever bought one LG product -- a phone. It was utter crap. Put me off the brand for life.

        When it comes to TV (well I don't watch FTA TV but I do watch streams) I stick with a totally *dumb* 4K 55-inch screen and a media-player plus Google's TV Chromecast thing.

        Aside from having to reboot the Google device every couple of weeks when it starts acting weird, this setup gives me 100 percent control and I don't have to worry about any manufacturer deciding what I should or shouldn't be watching.

        Smart TVs

  • Subscription (Score:3)

    by newslash.formatblows ( 2011678 ) on Thursday July 13, 2023 @08:42PM (#63684237)
    If you'd like your remote control to work, that'll be $15 per month. For $20 per month, we'll even let you adjust the volume.

    • If you'd like your remote control to work, that'll be $15 per month. For $20 per month, we'll even let you adjust the volume.

      for 20 bucks???? Can't turn that down.

  • at rent to own pricing!

  • where have we heard this before (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Walt Dismal ( 534799 ) on Thursday July 13, 2023 @09:02PM (#63684277)
    Oh look, the HP ink model. That's gonna go real well. What's the Korean equivalent of Bud Light?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Duds ( 100634 )

      Like everywhere, literal piss.

      • Piss would be an upgrade. Bud light is a ferment of corn syrup and water with some caramel color added. Ironically, the beer that took the spot from Bud Light is the exact same recipe made by the exact same company.

        • I'll defend either that swill nor their contempt for their customers, but that simply isn't correct on multiple counts.

          Pretty much every *other* american american beer (including models) cuts the barley with corn or adds corn syrup after the mash to cut costs and reduce the body, but Budweiser and it's watered cousin use rice, instead.

          And in the US, Modelo is owned by constellation, not AB.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Oh look, the HP ink model

      Except with printers, you need ink. What consumable does a fridge or an oven need? I have an LG washer and dryer, and other than the laundry chemicals (bleach, detergent and softener)

      I mean, other than electricity, what is there to subscribe to? The smart features I can live without, they're nice, but I don't think having access to them is worth even a cent a month. It's a nice to have since it's there, but I won't miss it too badly if it's gone.

  • Because nobody wants your software-bloated-subscription-data-invasion-as-a-service. Oh who am I kidding, the sheep will just keep buying while going broke from subscriptions that they can't one-click cancel.
    • Well of course, if you subscribe to greed as a service or (GaaS) you get what you paid for: An even richer asshole.

  • No thanks (Score:3)

    by registrations_suck ( 1075251 ) on Thursday July 13, 2023 @11:21PM (#63684453)

    Who is asking for this? Not a single consumer, ANYWHERE.

    Appliances and TVs with ads? No thanks. On my "don't buy from them" list.

    A car without CarPlay? Also on my "don't buy from them" list. GM, Rivian, Tesla, I'm talking about you.

  • Subscription to use hardware you own? (Score:3)

    by felixrising ( 1135205 ) on Thursday July 13, 2023 @11:56PM (#63684509)
    Sounds like more and more companies are getting on the subscription bandwagon. Just another device manufacturer to avoid. With companies like BMW selling subscriptions to use the seat heater you paid for and are carrying around in the car with the fuel you purchase, and HP locking you out of printing if you don't buy the right ink... The more people give bad reviews and vote with their wallets, the better!
  • I don't even have any streaming accounts anymore. Streaming not ROI! I won't buy any appliance that requires internet access. So they are free to do what ever they want, I don't care. I joke with friends that I create tech but don't have a use for most of it.

  • TV Firmware upgrades to be careful about (Score:3)

    by JakFrost ( 139885 ) on Friday July 14, 2023 @01:16AM (#63684597)

    I guess I have to be careful about upgrading my LG OLED TV because I'm afraid one of the upgrades is going to start pushing even more advertisements into the menu system.

    I already have problems with this TV as is with the eARC and Dolby Atmos over HDMI breaking every so often, so I'm hoping a future upgrade is going to fix it. But now I have to be very careful because there is no rollback feature.

    I have the TV blocked from accessing the internet on my AT&T router, but it still seems to get through every so often somehow. I refuse to agree to any of the terms of service for this television and I don't use any of the apps on it. I just use it as a dumb monitor that I send video and audio through. So luckily I'm not dependent on any of the apps on it since it can play things off my local network using uPNP and DLNA without having to agree to any goddamn data sharing and mining agreements. I made a mistake a while back of agreeing to all the agreements and I saw that the TV started taking screenshots of everything I was watching and uploading them back to LG because the data usage from this device on the router was showing multiple gigabytes of data per day that was being sent over to LG's domains.

    I worry that a future upgrade is going to push some kinds of advertisements into it and I'm going to have to do a DNS filtering pie hole implementation on the entire network because of this goddamn company trying to push even more ads into everything .

    Too bad. I just recommended one of these TVs to a friend of mine but I don't know what else to do except maybe Samsung OLED which are more expensive and probably suffer from the same advertising problem. And forget about Sony as a company; they're dead to me ever since they root kitted people's computers with their s***** CDs.

    The advertising push and enshittification of our devices continues.

    • Just buy a cheapo Android TV box.

      They double as emulators all the way up to Nintendo 64.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by narcc ( 412956 )

      Why not just remove the TV from your network and use an external device for 'smart' nonsense?

      You might also consider buying a commercial display. You'll pay a premium, but it's the only way I know to get anything remotely like an old dumb TV these days.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        You can turn your LG TV into a dumb TV by simply declining to agree to the EULA. That will disable most of the "smart" features.

        No need to connect it to your network, except very occasionally for firmware updates (if they offer anything relevant to you).

        • Are you sure declining the Eula does anything? Their current T&Câ(TM)s break nearly every GDPR ruling there is - I have no idea why I would say yes to any of that. The OLED screen is awesome - the Atmos over HDMI works great (for me). Even the TV software is ⦠ok. But that EULA / T&C stuff is âoeI sell my soul to LG and waive all my rights to any privacy I may have once hadâ - erm. No thanks. My concern is that they just ignore the fact I will not sign my name to that and

    • I guess I have to be careful about upgrading my LG OLED TV because I'm afraid one of the upgrades is going to start pushing even more advertisements into the menu system.

      I believe I connected my LG OLED TVs upon set up...and then, disconnected them entirely from the internet and no problems since then.

      That being said, I never use the "smart" apps on the tv, it is basically a dumb monitor.

      I have boxes to stream to them...FireTV cube on one and Apple TV 4K on another, etc....

      I run my audio, etc through th

    • You can turn off that horrible overlay that makes an appearance on startup. It's in the menus somewhere. If you turn it off, it acts like a traditional "dumb" TV unless you specifically tell it not to. At least, my C8 does.

  • To which I say, FO! Even Apple, so called righteous pride BLM loving company is supporting to, with their fees and subscription apps, like FCP for iPad. Best support companies that do not do this. Massive breach of privacy and allows them or others to disable your products.
  • Oh hell no.... and don't need ads to use an appliance !!!

  • No (Score:4, Informative)

    by markdavis ( 642305 ) on Friday July 14, 2023 @06:45AM (#63685111)

    I don't know about "the masses", but I will never buy any appliance that has "ads" or requires a "subscription".

    BTW- APC (Schneider) just announced they will require a never-ending money subscription if you want any future firmware updates. Why last did we need a firmware update? Because the new UPS we purchased had a horrible bug such that ALL Email notifications had a munged timezone. So all the notifications had the wrong time, off by several hours. It took several hours of MY time to fight with different levels of tech support to "prove" the problem, and then 7 months of waiting for a fix.

    • LG (Score:3)

      by JBMcB ( 73720 )

      Probably would never subscribe to a hardware TV "service." However, LG has been unusually good at software updates for their products. We have a 5 year old LG TV that is still getting fairly regular software updates. Two years ago they actually added Apple AirPlay to our TV which is somewhat amazing. To be clear, it wasn't advertised as supporting Apple TV. They just added it to older sets because they could.

    • FYI: apcupsd [apcupsd.com] along with a simple sendmail script could fix all of that no firmware update needed.

      • Not when it is a network closet with no computers there :) I guess you could do the pi thing. But there are a LOT of features on the APC and Cyberpower network card/controllers.

  • Block at router (Score:4, Informative)

    by mrthoughtful ( 466814 ) on Friday July 14, 2023 @08:37AM (#63685319) Journal
    LG device owners can block the following addresses at the router: ngfts.lge.com us.ad.lgsmartad.com lgad.cjpowercast.com edgesuite.net us.info.lgsmartad.com There may be others. I would like to know.

    • Re:Block at router (Score:4, Informative)

      by mrthoughtful ( 466814 ) on Friday July 14, 2023 @09:12AM (#63685417) Journal
      Replacing 'us' with 'gb' found server hits. So there's some regional differentiation going on. They back onto AWS: eg
      gb-ad-lgsmartad-com.aws-prd.net
      us-ad-lgsmartad-com.aws-prd.net

      My LG banlist now includes lgsmartad.com
      edgesuite.net
      lgad.cjpowercast.com
      ngfts.lge.com
      ad.lgsmartad.com
      info.lgsmartad.com
      gb.ad.lgsmartad.com
      gb.info.lgsmartad.com
      us.ad.lgsmartad.com
      us.info.lgsmartad.com

  • As long as I can make it permanently go away in the menus, it wouldn't stop me from buying one of their TVs. But it better be "gone" - undetectable.

    I have a 65" C8. When I got it, their overlay was obtrusive. But I found the switch and now it's simply not there. Good enough for me.

  • What is the point? Household appliances don't need to be connected to the internet. They just need to sit in the corner and do one task. I don't want to have to worry about my fridge needing to be patched every 5 minutes, or my washing machine saying, "You want to wash something made of wool, that will cost you extra". Just no!

  • When the servers go away, does the TV stop working?

    I have a 55" LG 3D TV that, since it's 3D, is 120 Hz from maybe 12-13 years ago. Its menu system has become worse than worthless because the servers it was connecting to have all been decommissioned. So, no ads, yay, but also no weather reports, games or whatever else was supposed to be on the thing.

    The major problem, though.... it insists on a zip code when I want to scan for TV channels. It can't connect, so it says F-you. So while the hardware is capable

  • Sounds like extortion to me. I guess LG is wanting to commit suicide as a company. Ain't no way I am buying any of their products now.

  • Until you have no choice.

  • <RANT>
    To every IDIOT who has been stupidly buying subscription ANYTHING, from video/music streaming to Photoshop and heated seats, it's YOUR encouragement of this consumer-abuse model that has every greedy bunch of bastards ever jumping on the pay forever bandwagon.
    </RANT>

    For those of you smart enough to resist this particular tide of villainy, I salute you. Doesn't seem like it'd take many salutes, though.

    [staggers off, mumbling]

  • It's big enough to be a bedroom TV.

    I know a guy with a Sceptre in his living room.

    Not everyone wants a Smart anything. The LG I do have in my household is not connected to the Internet, I have my own TV box that does what I want it to despite the fact the TV can do some of it natively.

    LG runs the risk of everyone going to Planar and Sceptre.

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