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Businesses Television

Walmart To Buy TV Maker Vizio For $2.3 Billion (cnbc.com) 50

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Walmart has agreed to buy TV maker Vizio, the companies announced Tuesday, as the largest U.S. retailer grows its high-profit ad business. From a report: Walmart will acquire Vizio for $2.3 billion, or $11.50 per share, in cash. Vizio shares, which spiked after reports of the deal first emerged last week, closed at $9.53 on Friday. Walmart and its Sam's Club warehouse chain have long been major sellers of Vizio devices. But in buying the company, Walmart touted the potential to boost its ad business through Vizio's SmartCast Operating System, which allows users to stream free ad-supported content on their TVs.
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Walmart To Buy TV Maker Vizio For $2.3 Billion More

Walmart To Buy TV Maker Vizio For $2.3 Billion

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  • NGL, NGL (Score:4, Informative)

    by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Tuesday February 20, 2024 @07:24AM (#64253930) Homepage Journal

    Not gonna lie, no great loss. I bought a Vizio TV back when they were super new and it gave a very good combo of quality and price. These days they are no longer cheap and also no longer very good quality, so Wally World is welcome to them. I moved on to HiSense, which is also not great quality, but is cheaper than Vizio :)

    • Youâ(TM)re not wrong. Iâ(TM)ve purchased a total of two Vizio TVs over the years. The first was an E601i-A3 60â 1080p LED TV for $999 over ten years ago. That TV still hangs on my living room wall and used for movies, TV shows, and sports. Still has stunning colors but is starting to show its age in the current era of âoeletâ(TM)s see how dark we can make this movieâ and has banding issues when higher res dark scenes are downsampled to 1080p. Still, I quite love that TV. The sm

    • We have a Vizio, (liked it because it wasn't some roku or Amazon Fire box) after a few months the quality of the set started going downhill (remote updates don't ya love em) we had been enjoying the their built-in free play channel WatchFree was nice and simple interface compared to Pluto.TV and didn't overwhelm the TVs little processor... but soon they got greedy and made WatchFree+ which likely pushed more data gathering or advertising, had a lousier UI, stored too much on favorites for my TV's processor

      • Re:NGL, NGL (Score:5, Interesting)

        by TractorBarry ( 788340 ) on Tuesday February 20, 2024 @09:20AM (#64254232) Homepage

        When my old "non-smart" TV failed and couldn't be economically repaired I bought an Iiyama signange display (4k resolution, loads of inputs) and hooked it up to a mini-itx machine running Linux, MythTV, Mopidy, VLC etc. etc. (audio goes to a hi-fi amp). This setup's been working fine for years, the picture is excellent, the sounds excellent, no-ones snooping on me, and I can watch pretty much anything TV/film related that either comes over air, via the internet or on an optical disk/other media - if it comes from the internet it's also pretty much ad-free thanks to Pi-Hole.

        "Smart" TVs are a pile of shit. Forced ads, forced telemetery, forced obsolesence, (cr)apps that stop working after a week etc. etc. etc. No thanks.

        • You forgot to include the forced OTA firmware upgrades to further crapify.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Mousit ( 646085 )

          When my old "non-smart" TV failed and couldn't be economically repaired I bought an Iiyama signange display (4k resolution, loads of inputs)...

          Sadly iiyama has moved on as well. Their current-gen signage displays (ProLite) are full-smart systems running Android--and it's either Android 11, or even down to 9 depending on the model (despite still being a current-gen model), because like any screen maker they can't even be bothered to keep the smarts that they forced into the product up to date.

          Though to be fair, at least iiyama's screens don't (yet) force you to connect them to a network in order to be fully operational, like some TV makers have

          • When my old "non-smart" TV failed and couldn't be economically repaired I bought an Iiyama signange display (4k resolution, loads of inputs)...

            Sadly iiyama has moved on as well. Their current-gen signage displays (ProLite) are full-smart systems running Android--and it's either Android 11, or even down to 9 depending on the model (despite still being a current-gen model), because like any screen maker they can't even be bothered to keep the smarts that they forced into the product up to date.

            Iiyama put android on the displays probably because tyheir customers wanted it. This is industrial signage, some customers wantyed to be able to run (home developed) Apps on the displays, others wanted to use the pre-existing chromecast infrastructure for an easier way to hook to the Displays...

            I guess the bulk of their customers is not "consumers trying to avoid SmartTVs"

            Though to be fair, at least iiyama's screens don't (yet) force you to connect them to a network in order to be fully operational, like some TV makers have begun requiring, so you can still use them as basic displays. I still wish they hadn't shoved Android into their products at all though--and it's even dumber when you realize most of iiyama's signage displays actually have a dock/port for a "slot PC" accessory, so you could ADD full-PC smarts if you wanted it. So why does the base unit now come with goddamn Android?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by jonwil ( 467024 )

          My current TV is a 32" Samsung dumb TV. It works just fine for watching over-the-air TV (which is all I use it for). All my other content watching (YouTube, Disney+ etc etc) is done on my PC.

      • I think they want extra ad revenue. They could go with a Roku enabled TV, smart but without incessant ads/spying. But that would add no extra revenue to Walmart... So they wnat that space.

        It reminds of or DirecTV having a great product and service, and then suddenly everyone had a greatly inferior knockoff settop box. Like they made a list of what customers really liked in DirecTV and then deliberately left them off. So TV makers decide what people really like with Roku, Apple, Amazon, and leave off th

    • My relatives all got Vizio back when they were relatively new and the best value supposedly. ALL of them broke years ago within about a year or two of each other while the old CRT TVs all worked until they were trashed.

      Vizio seems like a perfect match for Walmart, especially now they have gone even lower than they were back then.

      • Oh, that might be the EEPROM problem that older Vizios flat screens have turns out there's an EEPROM on the board that locks after so many boot ups (counter overflows or something) you have to replace it to get the TV working again - Bought a non-functioning (non-smart ) 32" Vizio TV at a rummage sale that had that problem. the new eeprom fixed it up.

  • This is mad. Wouldn't be surprised if the TV watches you and starts making recommendations. "Looks like your couch is out of style, how about a new one?" .. "You argue with your spouse about money, how about a self help book on finances?" .. "You don't send your mistress flowers, should I send some?"

    • There are more uses than just ads. What about, for example, a gymnastic exercise program? Or AI-based updates to your social credit?

      • The telescreen in the novel "1984" had 2-way capability for just that purpose.

        The protagonist Winston Smith was "called out" by the woman on TV leading the state-mandated calisthenics when on the uplink she saw that he was just going through the motions and not doing them vigorously enough.

    • Vizio and TCL TVs sold at Walmart have been known for years to be "always listening" for voice commands and offloading "voice recognition processing" to remote servers in China. Walmart makes more money selling that data than it does selling the TV.

  • In between a service one cannot disable and invasion of privacy? I am sorry, but I do not want a device in my place that will record my audio and video without my consent and without an option to be turned off (no, really turned off), that sends this data to Gd knows where, to be amassed and sold to Gd knows who, for the sole purpose of me continuing to be a product while inside the four walls of my own house, not only for this company but to the entire world.

    If this is the digital revolution we all hoped i

    • Not all Smart TVs require you to connect to the internet to watch OTA television, cable or anything on an HDMI input. I think the Android or Roku based TVs need an account to do anything. Our LG didn't need an account to fire up and watch regular TV.

      • Some /.ers are the most out of touch techies bordering on ludites.

        Don't like ads? Use your networking skills and firewall the damn thing off. It's not that hard. Grab a different Home Launcher. It's Android after-all. Hell just root your damn TV if you feel that strongly about it.

        You don't even need root if all you wanna do is disable some of the system pre-installs. Just use ADB in network mode after enabling developer mode. EZ

    • In between a service one cannot disable and invasion of privacy? I am sorry, but I do not want a device in my place that will record my audio and video without my consent and without an option to be turned off (no, really turned off), that sends this data to Gd knows where, to be amassed and sold to Gd knows who, for the sole purpose of me continuing to be a product while inside the four walls of my own house, not only for this company but to the entire world.

      If this is the digital revolution we all hoped in the 90s, I will gladly move back to the 80s way of life.

      So recording video? That's not a common feature, TMK. I am pretty confident most TVs do not have a camera built into them. Most probably don't have live mics as well, although I know the nicer rokus have the wake-up command.

      As far as the 80s vs 90s? You're not great with history. Internet was expensive and so were webcams for the most part in the 90s. People didn't mine data much because those Pentium 2 based servers couldn't handle the load. Even today, filming is expensive. You want to store v

      • I've worked on IoT device software and we wished we had the capabilities you described. (customer's request, not spying)...but that level of surveillance is expensive.

        If you've got a device with enough intelligence onboard to recognize stuff, then you can record only specific things. I'm surprised you're not doing that already. You need a fair amount of CPU compared to if you weren't doing that, but CPU is cheap now. As you say, storage still is not, at least not for quality video. But you don't need to store it when nothing interesting is happening.

  • For this reason. No ads. No smarts. Just a display.

  • I guess for a story about TVs, some reruns [slashdot.org] (dupes) are to be expected.
  • There was a time when Vizio was a pretty decent product for the amount of money they cost. Not so much any more, there are better options available at pretty much every price point, especially if you are OK with skipping a new model in favor of a previous model.

    However, if Vizio is wholly owned by Walmart, they have the ability to squeeze suppliers a bit and maybe lower the prices across the board, or even live with a smaller profit margin on units sold to get their TVs (or advertisement delivery boxes)

  • Walmart buys brainwashing device maker Vizio for more control over the content, advertising, and access to the spyware I mean customer satisfaction data the devices collect.

  • They Bought the Smart TV Access to Homes, not TVs (Score:3)

    by Vandil X ( 636030 ) on Tuesday February 20, 2024 @09:39AM (#64254288)
    TV usage stats and any voice command stuff is advertising gold. That was the primary reason for the purchase. A good second is being able to use that network to distribute ads. I doubt the cost of the TVs themselves is of any consequence.

  • Whenever big companies wander outside their field of expertise, it usually does not end well, or at least is lack-luster. The culture and knowledge to manage X rarely translates well to Y.

    True, MS eventually got into gaming hardware, but they had to subsidize it a while. And gaming has a lock-in/compatibility aspect, unlike TV's.

  • Vizio is disabling antenna capability (Score:4, Informative)

    by jetkust ( 596906 ) on Tuesday February 20, 2024 @09:47AM (#64254316)
    During a recent update they are forcing antenna input to be routed through the internet via their Smart Cast/Watch Free app. So you no longer can select the antenna as an input. So essentially, you need internet access to watch antenna television! What's worse is the app is buggy and slow and unlikely to have the same channels you had through antenna. Disabling wifi doesn't get you're antenna channels back either. The only way to get them back is to do a factory reset and stay off wifi.

    • Really?
      Find an attorney who loves class actions.
      Open an FTC fraud case.
      Open an FCC signal interference case.

      • Is it not understood that a TV has a tuner and a monitor does not? A smart monitor is really a computer. So is this then not a thin client COMPUTER?

        Sounds like false advertising to call it a TV.

  • Vizio is notorious for the amount of spyware loaded on their TVs. I would not be surprised if they make more money selling personal data on viewing habits and from advertising revenue than from selling the damned TVs.

  • Newer Vizio TVs *require* internet (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I bought a Vizio at Christmas time last year and it refused to function without being connected to the Internet. After I connected it to my network, it still refused to function because it thought it still wasn't connected to the Internet.

    Enter WireShark, and lo and behold I discover that the TV starts to attempt an IPSEC/IKE key exchange with 4 different servers in China, but failed because I have all traffic to/from China blocked at my router.

    Anyway, I returned it as "defective" because it refused to func

    • That's both troubling and confusing. By "last Christmas", do you mean two months ago or 14 months ago? I bought one on sale at Best Buy 14 months ago, but did not have that problem despite also blocking all traffic to/from China. Via PfBlockerNG's geoip on my Pfsense.

  • ... businesses spent billions with broadcasters to get their marketing onto the TV screen in your home?

    Now, businesses spend billions to buy Smart TV manufacturers to get their marketing onto the TV screen in your home.

  • So, if I went with a straight monitor, what would I use for the OTA receiver?

  • There goes any sort of quality that Vizio had. I'm guessing they just bought them to load their crappy video service on the devices.

  • I like my LGs since if you don't accept their privacy policy they won't access the mothership to show you ads. And since they're behind AppleTVs, I don't need the LG apps. Win/win...for me.

  • Vizio's current market cap is ~$2.2B with a P/E ratio of > 100. TVs are a commodity product, for the most part (i.e. low margins and limited growth). And, since Walmart doesn't manufacture similar devices, there is no economy of scale to be achieved with a merger. The only benefit to Walmart is the savings in Vizio's profit on units they sell-through and, maybe, some HR or other corporate overhead savings.

    What am I missing that wold justify that kinda P/E ratio? That is higher than NVDA for cryin' out
  • Walmart wants to buy a bargain TV brand? Fine. Walmart wants to buy it not because they can make money off the product, but to use it to show ads? Go to hell.

    But also thank you for reminding me to take another look at my various TVs' traffic to see if there's anything else I can safely block.

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