I'm setting up a new Google TV dongle for my parents and I don't want them to see ads or pay-per-view offers. I set the OS to App Only mode and checked only two services in their account: Amzon Prime and a TV streaming service that they use. On the home screen I get recommendations for those two services which is fine but I still get ads for Disney+ content. When I click it, it asks me to install the D+ app. Why is that? It really annoys me. They have their own Google account and never used D+. Is there a special deal between Disney and Google or is it a bug? Does anybody have the same issue or even a solution for it?
It's part of the launcher since the latest update. Only way you can fix the ad problem now is using a different launcher.
I have replaced my default with Flauncher now.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.efesser.flauncher
Now we have another usability issue the must be addressed. Even with our new launcher running, pressing the HOME button opening the ad infested Google TV launcher.
To fix this we have 2 different solutions. The simplest (and best for evaluation) is to remap the home button with button mapper
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=flar2.homebutton
The second and better IMHO solution is to disable the Google TV launcher altogether. That way we do not need to use the button remaper and the HOME button will work as expected. However you will quickly see that Google has prevented you from doing so. To get around that, we need to enable USB debugging in Developer Options, and use ADB from a computer to disable "com.google.android.apps.tv.launcherx" and "com.google.android.tungsten.setupwraith"
See here for a simple guide to do that https://leffler.tech/2021/03/03/custom-launcher-google-tv-chromecast/
The guide also mentions an alternative launcher than what I mentioned above, as a few are readily available to replace the default Google one.
Hope that helps