Stop smart TV snooping by LG and others

Jared Newman   |   September 11, 2026

It’s time for another round of panic about smart TV privacy, with LG taking its turn in the hot seat.

The impetus is a 135-minute video from Gamers Nexus, digging into the data that LG can collect from its users. The most shocking claim is that LG’s TVs can persistently listen to what you’re saying even when the power is off (albeit only if you plug in an external USB webcam), but the report also delves into the privacy ramifications of hands-free voice control and automatic content recognition. The video quickly went viral, drawing millions of views and prompting some alarming headlines. (“Disconnect your LG television from the internet, now,” for instance.)

While many of the core claims aren’t new or even unique to LG, I’m all for more folks realizing exactly what their TVs are up to. Even if they’re not constantly recording what you say or do, smart TVs can be privacy minefields, and it’s worth taking some steps to minimize what they can collect. Here’s how to do that:

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The Complete Guide to Cord Cutting

In case you missed it, I recently overhauled my Complete Guide to Cord Cutting, which covers all the information you need to ditch cable and save money on streaming.

The update accounts for some big changes to the TV landscape over the past year, and it includes my new Streaming Savings Calculator, which I am especially proud of. Type in the channels or streaming services you want, and it will find the cheapest bundles and packages to obtain them.

This guide is available under a pay-what-you-can model with a $10 suggested price, which supports the many hours that went into making it. (Can’t pay right now? Let me know and I’ll take care of you.)

Get the Complete Guide to Cord Cutting

Weekly rewind

Streaming ad breaks are getting longer: Since the start of this year, nearly every major ad-supported streaming service has been sneaking longer commercial breaks into its shows. As reported by Business Insider, ads per hour are up 18% from January to August according to Ampere Analysis.

The worst offenders are Paramount+ (9 minutes per hour), Hulu (8.2 minutes per hour) and Disney+ (7.54 minutes per hour). Netflix and Prime Video still have the lightest ad loads (2.4 minutes and 2.6 minutes per hour, respectively), though they’re barely ahead of Tubi (2.95 minutes per hour) even though the latter is completely free.

As the big subscription services expanded into ad-supported streaming, they made a big to-do about having relatively light ad loads. But as profit demands intensified, they’ve quickly gone back on their word while also raising the price premium for ad-free streaming.

TiVo’s ad skip backtrack: If you’re still clinging to a TiVo DVR, you now have one fewer reason to do so. The company will no longer support automatic ad skipping after November 2, so customers will have to manually scrub through the commercial breaks on their own.

Don’t worry, though: TiVo says it’s working on “Premium Auto Commercial Skip” add-on to launch around the same time, so you can pay extra for the functionality that used to be part of TiVo’s basic service. As more TV providers drop their support for CableCARD, you’ve got to wonder how many folks will be around to partake.

Correction: Last week, I wrote that Amazon Prime will carry in-market NHL games from six teams at no extra charge. In fact, only local Ducks and Stars coverage will be included in the base Prime membership. The other four teams—Blue Jackets, Hurricanes, Wild, Blues—will require an add-on at $20 per month or $99 per season. (Also the Ducks’ announcement implies that its coverage will cost extra after this season.)

More catch-up

Save more money

This part of the newsletter has some affiliate links, which earn me a commission if you wind up buying or subscribing to something.

DirecTV is offering a better-than-usual deal on its MySports genre pack. New subscribers can get their first six months for $45 per month, which is $20 per month off the usual price.

The MySports plan includes local channels and national sports networks such as ESPN, NFL Network, FS1, and TNT. With YouTube TV offering the same deal on its similar Sports package, I suppose DirecTV is trying not to get left behind for football season.

Other notable deals:

As always, I maintain a full list of active deals on the Cord Cutter Weekly website.

Thanks for reading!

Got cord cutting questions for me? Reply to this email and I’ll do my best to answer.

Until next week,
Jared