Microsoft Ends Copilot Support on Smart TVs, Including LG Sets
Microsoft is ending support for Copilot on all smart TVs, according to a report by Windows Central published on 28 October 2026. The Copilot-enabled feature is scheduled for discontinuation during 2026, although the specific date depends on Microsoft's timeline.
An on-screen notification on a webOS-powered LG TV (webOS is LG's smart TV operating system) stated that Microsoft had decided to end support for Copilot functionality on all TVs, including the Copilot-enabled feature on LG sets. LG told Windows Central that Microsoft had yet to confirm the exact date, and that support is expected to end before the end of 2026.
The feature has a short history. At CES 2025, the consumer electronics trade show, LG and Samsung announced that their latest smart TVs would include access to Microsoft's Copilot. In January 2025, Windows Central described the planned Samsung and LG integration as essentially a link to the Copilot website, without serious integration. The shipping feature let users chat with the assistant, ask questions about on-screen content, and receive TV show and movie recommendations.
The rollout then drew complaints. A December LG webOS update added an unremovable Microsoft Copilot shortcut, a button that opened the assistant's web app in a browser. The Verge reported that LG later allowed the shortcut to be deleted, after users objected to it being added without approval. Separately, a December 2025 Windows Central report said several LG TV users found the Microsoft Copilot app installed on their sets automatically.
Microsoft's stated direction for Copilot has moved elsewhere. The company has introduced a new Copilot super app, a single interface that bundles chat, agents (software that carries out tasks on a user's behalf), and coding tools, positioned as a business and productivity product. Windows Central frames the TV decision as following backlash and a strategy shift.
The broader context here is a familiar one for anyone who has tracked platform software. An assistant delivered as a web link, then pushed onto hardware owners who had not chosen it, generates friction faster than engagement. The reported change on LG sets, where the shortcut became deletable, suggests that complaints about default installation were the decisive issue, more than the assistant's capabilities.
In my view, the more useful question for the industry is about defaults and control. Smart TVs are a category where software is bundled by the panel maker, the platform owner, and sometimes a third-party AI provider, while the owner of the set has limited say over what appears on screen. Removing an app the user did not request is a different proposition from offering one the user can choose to add.
There is also a reasonable reading in which the outcome clarifies where a conversational assistant belongs. A productivity-focused Copilot, built around chat, agents, and coding, has a clearer use case on a laptop or in a browser tab than on a living-room display. If Microsoft concentrates its effort on those surfaces, the tighter integration that Windows Central found missing from the TV version may arrive where it is more likely to be used.
For LG and Samsung owners, the practical consequence is that a feature marketed at CES 2025 as a TV capability is scheduled to disappear during 2026, on a date Microsoft has not yet confirmed. For the broader smart TV market, the episode is a reminder that a feature announced at a trade show is only as durable as the partnership behind it.
