Source: https://bsky.app/profile/funnysnarkyjoke.bsky.social/post/3lmkfwebeuc27
In fact you can use your smartphone to change the channel on nearly any TV. In the comments on that post some people talk about how to do it. Basically you need a smartphone with either builtin IR or use a USB-C IR blaster or if your phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack you can also try one of those but I’m not sure if the 3.5mm ones are as commonly supported.
That article is over a year old and was itself referring to events a year before that.
YT link
If I am to believe this youtuber, the flipper zero creator shared info with him on the flipper one. I know, it’s thin, but it’s also not a hoax imo. It’s just impossible to guess where the development currently is.