Telly launches free dual screen Smart TV in the U.S.

Pluto TV Co-Founder Launches Telly, the Ultimate Free Television Upgrade for the Living Room

LOS ANGELES — Telly, the ultimate free television upgrade for the living room, announced today that it has emerged from a 24-month stealth period during which the company developed the first Dual Screen Smart TV. The new form factor combines the cinematic picture quality of a beautifully designed 55″ 4K HDR Theater Television Display with a separate built-in Smart Screen. The two screens are seamlessly integrated by a premium sound bar. Telly is powered by TellyOS, a breakthrough operating system built for a dual screen world, bringing experiences that go well beyond streaming into the living room.

The company announced it has opened the reservation system for the first 500,000 free units that will begin shipping to consumers this summer.

Telly is poised to not only disrupt the industry by delivering the most innovative TV in the market, but to revolutionize the industry’s business model by enabling advertisers to fully subsidize the cost of the TV itself for the consumer, and deliver it completely for free.

“Telly is the biggest innovation in television since color,” said Ilya Pozin, Founder and CEO of Telly. “Telly is a revolutionary step forward for both consumers and advertisers. For too long, consumers have not been an equal part of the advertising value exchange. Companies are making billions of dollars from ads served on televisions, yet consumers have historically had to pay for both the TV and the content they watch. All of that changes today. When I co-founded Pluto TV, we created an entirely new model that offered amazing TV content to viewers for free. Now, with Telly, we are providing the actual television for free as well.”

Telly is transforming the biggest screen in the home into the world’s first truly Smart TV, which will go beyond streaming to become the main device in the living room.

• Smart Screen: Telly’s Smart Screen lets viewers stay up to date with the latest news, sports scores, weather, stocks and so much more. They can gather together around the biggest screen in the home to watch Sunday football and track fantasy scores while watching the game. Movie night? Telly’s artificial intelligence helps deliver reviews and content recommendations, all on one device.
• Video Calling: Video calls will never be the same again as consumers can connect with friends, family and work colleagues from the biggest screen in the house. Viewers can even watch their favorite movie or sports teams together with friends and family across the county.
• Video Games: Telly’s Game Room is bringing the family back together for game night, packed with more than 40 video games, from arcade classics to immersive multiplayer experiences.
• Music: Play songs from popular music services on Telly’s stunning built-in five-driver sound bar.
• Voice Assistant: “Hey Telly” connects living room experiences like nothing before with an innovative AI-driven voice assistant.
• Fitness: Telly turns the family room into a fitness studio with free advanced motion-tracking fitness programs designed for every lifestyle.

Viewers can watch anything on Telly, from their cable or satellite TV provider to their favorite streaming app, by connecting through one of three HDMI ports built into the television or through the built-in TV tuner. Telly ships with a 4K Android TV streaming stick. Users are also able to connect their favorite streaming service or device (Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV and more) to take maximum control over their TV viewing experience.

“While everyone talks about Smart TVs, the reality is that TVs have not changed dramatically over the past couple of decades and the dream of truly interactive TV has never materialized,” said Richard Greenfield, General Partner at LightShed Ventures, who co-led Telly’s latest funding round. “Telly is a huge leap forward, leveraging the explosion of the connected TV ad market and the desire from consumers for greater control and interactivity that does not disrupt the TV viewing experience. The groundbreaking dual screen design enables advertisers to completely reimagine the living room experience while providing consumers an incredible TV at the easy-to-say-yes-to price of free.”

“We built our business by leaning into the trends shaping the future of consumer entertainment and brand engagement. Gen Z and younger millennials live their lives today across multiple screens and only Telly unites those experiences into one incredible product offered at the perfect price point of free. We are thrilled to be an early launch partner with Telly and help our clients create an entirely new form of brand engagement that is truly valued by their consumers,” said Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of Vayner Media, which was recognized as the 2022 Media Agency of the Year by Adweek.

“Television is the most powerful medium in the world, and MNTN’s clients know it,” said Mark Douglas, CEO and Founder of MNTN, a Fast Company 10 Most Innovative Companies In Advertising for 2023. “In today’s fragmented media landscape, we are always eager to identify breakthrough opportunities to reach new audiences, and now with Telly and MNTN, brands will be able to seriously level up their performance marketing strategy — right there on the biggest screen in the house. With Telly, a free Ad Supported TV just got real. Literally.”

Telly was started in May of 2021 and has attracted the best and brightest leaders from across the media, entertainment, advertising and consumer electronics sectors to its mission to deliver the ultimate television upgrade for the living room, for free, all supported by advertising. Leaders from Apple, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Vizio, Samsung, Roku, Comcast, Pluto TV, Sony, DIRECTV, and Nielsen have come together to launch Telly.

“We couldn’t be more excited to introduce the world to Telly,” added Pozin. “Don’t be fooled by the free price. This is by far the most advanced television ever developed. Consumers will never look at their television the same way again after Telly transforms the TV from a monitor on the wall into the most powerful and useful device in the home. Telly is the ultimate free upgrade that actually gets better month after month with over-the-air updates constantly innovating the living room experience. There has never been anything like it before,” concluded Pozin.