Netflix will soon stop working on some older Samsung smart TVs, but that doesn't mean you have to buy a new TV

• Samsung announced on Tuesday that some of its older smart TV models will lose Netflix support on December 1, 2019.
• The announcement was later taken down, which puts into question whether some older Samsung smart TVs will actually lose Netflix support.
• If it turns out to be true and your Samsung smart TV will lose Netflix support, you don't have to buy a new TV. Instead, you can buy an inexpensive media streaming dongle, like the Google Chromecast, a Roku device, or an Amazon Fire TV device.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Samsung announced on Tuesday that some of its older smart TV models will end support for Netflix on December 1, 2019 due to "technical limitations," as first spotted by BGR.

The support page where Samsung made the announcement has since been taken down, but a cached version of the page is still visible. It simply says:

"Due to technical limitations, Netflix will no longer be supported on some devices beginning on December 1st, 2019. Some older Samsung smart TV's are affected by this change. In the future, Netflix can be viewed from many other devices capable of connecting to your TV."

There's no mention of which Samsung smart TV models will be affected, nor does the support page offer any closure as to what exactly the "technical limitation" is.

However, it's unclear whether older Samsung smart TV models will actually lose Netflix support, considering that Samsung took down the support page.

Netflix also has a support page that says some devices may lose Netflix support on December 1. Netflix says that the devices that will be losing support will get multiple reminder messages before December 1.

Unfortunately, visiting Netflix's listed link to compatible devices doesn't reveal which devices will lose Netflix support at the time of writing, nor does it actually list compatible devices - it only lists compatible brands.

Business Insider reached out to Samsung and Netflix for clarification, but has yet to hear back.

But if you're someone whose older Samsung smart TV does lose Netflix support on December 1, it's not totally necessary to go out and buy a new TV. Instead, you can purchase an inexpensive media streaming dongle like a Roku streaming stick, a Google Chromecast, or an Amazon Fire TV stick that can plug into one of your TV's HDMI ports.

Samsung's situation comes at what might be a turning point in the TV industry. Up until now, it seemed as though media streaming dongles were dwindling in importance when almost every TV these days is a smart TV, which comes with many of the most popular streaming apps. Now, media streamers might be necessary to make older smart TVs smart again.

Still, even media streaming dongles aren't immune to obsolescence. Some Roku owners have reported that they've been seeing messages that their devices will lose Netflix support on December 1, according to Cord Cutter News. Roku confirmed to Digital Trends that the Roku 2050X, Roku 2100X, Roku 2000C, Roku HD Player, Roku SD Player, Roku XR Player, Roku XD Player are among those devices losing Netflix support.