Developers and vibe coders are using AI tools like Claude Code to get rid of sponsored ads on their smart TVs, disable tracking features, and more
TechCrunchSarah Perez
Context & Ripple Effects
Smart-TV advertising has long pursued web-style targeting while trying to avoid the privacy failures associated with online ads. Samba TV's viewing-data collection and personalization model showed how television interfaces became a source of ad-targeting signals; Roku later added contextual AI ad placement on its own channel.
The reported use of Claude Code changes the practical boundary of that model: people without traditional device-hacking expertise can direct an AI coding agent to alter the software layer that serves ads, gathers data, and runs the interface.
First-order effects
Owners of affected smart TVs can remove sponsored placements, tracking features, and vendor-installed software from the devices they control.
TV makers and their advertising partners lose ad inventory and telemetry on modified devices, while users gain greater control over interface speed and customization.
Second-order effects
Roku's contextual advertising products and similar TV ad systems become less durable if AI-assisted modification spreads beyond technically skilled owners, because their delivery depends on the vendor-controlled interface remaining intact.
Manufacturers that use data collection to support personalized recommendations and targeting, as documented in Samba TV's viewing-data model, face greater pressure to make consent and device performance more credible reasons to leave those services enabled.
Third-order effects
If AI agents continue to lower the technical barrier to modifying consumer devices, smart-TV economics face a sharper trade-off between ad-and-data-funded hardware and buyers' ability to opt out after purchase.
The episode points toward consumer AI acting as a counterweight to locked-down, monetized interfaces: control over device software becomes a product feature rather than an expert-only practice.
The trend: AI coding agents are extending software customization from developer workflows into the consumer devices whose business models depend on advertising, data collection, and vendor control.
Hacked my TV with Claude Code today No more ads, bloatware, spyware or laggy UI I also got a beautiful screensaver with my revenue, calendar, weather, and notifications for new Stripe payments It was super easy! I sent it the listing for my tv, asked “can you hack this?
Vibe coded my parents' TV this afternoon! It was showing a sponsored ad before you could even get to Netflix. Gave Claude Code the model number, it found the TV on wifi, removed 25 Xiaomi packages and wrote a new launcher. Looks like an Apple TV now lol
Went overboard building a custom launcher for my Not-so-smart TV, with more features than the manufacturer ever shipped: 1. Custom recommendations (trending titles that open straight in the right app) 2. Quality-of-life add-ons: weather, one-press HDMI switching 3. Seamless Apple…