Wrong. If you would otherwise have to be in my house to know something, what you have is personal information.
http://www.ico.org.uk/for_organisations/data_protection/the_...
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Personal data means data which relate to a living individual who can be identified –
(a) from those data, or
(b) from those data and other information which is in the possession of, or is likely to come into the possession of, the data controller
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... the big question is whether an IP address can be used to identify someone. It certainly can for ISPs, because they lease IP addresses. And IP addresses can certainly identify people down to neighbourhoods. But LG might be able to claim they have anonymised it sufficiently.
Of course, it's also possible that:
a) LG customers have registered their TV with LG, including identifying information, leading LG to be able to put two and two together.
or
b) There's data sharing between LG and a third party such as an ISP.
So in FCC land cable operators know what you watch, their box is tuning to it and they're able to log this information for diagnostic purposes. They're also allowed to share some of this information as long as its not personally identifiable information. IE "2000 people viewed CSI NY" not J. Rockway from 123 Main St. viewed CSI NY".
They're trying to make the distinction here (though doing in poorly) likely to save themselves some privacy complaints later.
Which DVRs? Mine had better not be doing that.