That's increasingly no longer true. For many new smart TVs, you literally can't use them until you connect them to the internet.
Our new LG OLED purchased just weeks ago, BTW, works just fine without a network connection. Thanks to HDMI CEC, I’ve seen the TV’s home screen maybe twice.
The remedy is to get an LG soundbar, which sounds great.
...but you can't use it without wifi. Even if you don't connect the soundbar to your wifi, the soundbar will create a visible wifi AP for the subwoofer to connect to.