Nvidia Shield TV Owners Are Pissed About the Banner Ads in Android TV

I've had the Shield for years and set them up for a few family members. I still believe it's the best device of its kind on the market and I've recommended it every chance so I have a lot of friends with them as well.

In the most recent update, the until-now ad-free homepage was defaced with an ad banner that takes up half the screen and can't be removed. This wasn't a change made by Nvidia but by Google to the Android TV Launcher. To add to this, some of the ads have been deemed inappropriate or offensive to certain users adding to the frustration of ads being introduced to this long-standing ad-free experience.

I, like many Shield owners, am considering installing a third party launcher. This can be done pretty easily by watching an instruction video on Youtube and most users will go this route without consideration of security - potentially opening large numbers of the devices up to vulnerabilities.

Funny, after the update my teenage son and his friend have a lot of fun "watching TV" with the new interface, usually from Youtube.

Myself I'm not a fan, but I just watch anime w/ Jellyfin, live TV with HDHomeRun (Quantum Leap on Comet!) and run a lot of sideloaded apps to control IOT functions.

My shield updated to this the other day. I'm pretty furious about it, it's not a cheap device, and it's certainly not Google's. To be adding these "features" without asking, irrespective of whatever agreement between me, Nvidia or Google exists, is ridiculous.

I know it's in whatever terms I, uh, "accepted", but there's just no escaping it in this day and age.

Fortunately, I know how to use ADB and just installed another launcher, but most other people just have to bend over and take it. No doubt ADB tricks won't be sufficient in future updates and I'll be playing more silly games with a device I own.

Apple is seems almost as bad too. There's recommendations that I don't want. It's certainly worse in that I would have even less control and be unable to remove them.

It's certainly a good thing that I don't live anywhere near a Google office, otherwise I'd be launching this POS through one of their windows if I did.

I'm guessing the Android Launcher is next to have banner ads.

What launcher did you switch to?