Roku is exploring ways to show consumers ads on its TVs even when they are not using its streaming platform: The company has been looking into injecting ads into the video feeds of third-party devices connected to its TVs, according to a recent patent filing.
This way, when an owner of a Roku TV takes a short break from playing a game on their Xbox, or streaming something on an Apple TV device connected to the TV set, Roku would use that break to show ads. Roku engineers have even explored ways to figure out what the consumer is doing with their TV-connected device in order to display relevant advertising.
This would only effect people who are using the roku service built into their tv, yes?
For now, yes. The patent discussed in the article suggests that the Roku TV reads the input HDMI signal even if you aren’t using a Roku App to determine whether you are idle and show ads when the screen doesn’t change much.
It sounds to be the situation but I wouldn’t put it past them to try and fuck everyone who owns their devices not just people who bought roku tvs