Re: Chromecast
Any number of cheap knock-off Chromecast-like things will also do it.
But privacy isn't really an issue if - like mine - the Chromecast is only powered when the HDMI is selected, and is properly - like any client should be - restricted in what it can do (i.e. it can't see any of my local network). And, pretty much, I use it for showing Google Play movies on the screen.
If you're that paranoid, just use DLNA.
Needs broadband is ridiculous in this day and age. We're talking about streaming video, if you don't have broadband, your choices are severely limited anyhow.
Needs additional hardware - yes. That you can replace for £20 a throw rather than £2000.
For reference, I have a Chromecast, a VM box, a Blu-Ray player which can play DLNA, a Android-based satellite box that can do DVB-S for Freesat / Italian satellite. The TV, however, is as dumb as they come with only SCART and HDMI and an RF interface for analogue/Freeview that's not even plugged in.
TVs are display devices. Buying a TV because it runs the app you want or accesses the content you want is stupid, because someday it will stop working like the article. Buy a TV that has a port on it you can put video and audio down, put all your "content" on cheap, replaceable, throwaway boxes that you can upgrade and replace as suits the situation, that don't all need to talk to each other, and that you can add new ones of whenever you like. Even that Android will be out-of-date and unsupported in a couple of years, and then it's just a health hazard sitting on your local network.
Last time I counted, including games consoles, etc. I had about 10 ways to view BBC iPlayer on my TV. Everything from an app on a smartphone pushed over a Samsung proprietary link, to Chromecast from a browser, to the Blu-Ray/Wii having access to it built-in. When one goes "wrong", who cares when you have so many other ways to access, or so many other services to do the same. And my entire setup - with all those boxes and necessary cabling - doesn't come to half what that guy paid for his TV. Probably not even a quarter. And I've had the same setup for nearly 10 years now, and just added to it piecemeal (it is in fact the second Chromecast as the new ones do 5GHz Wifi, which the old ones didn't).
And I bet an Android-based Smart TV is much more privacy-infringing than a ChromeCast, if that's what you're worried about. You have absolutely no clue what that's doing with its data. At least a ChromeCast that you only use for watching ChromeCasted things you have a chance of isolating and seeing what it's doing.