I have a smart TV and a Bluray player as well, but other than that, only phones, computers, and my Switch connect to the internet. My next TV will likely not be smart, because screw ads, and I've ripped all of my Blurays.
Would be nice, but I have kids, and it's really hard to watch a movie together on a phone. I need another soon-ish, so I'm going to look into hospitality TVs and projectors.
That's the backup plan, yes. I haven't looked at newer TVs recently, but I wouldn't be surprised if they still had some kind of ads even if they don't connect to the internet, or they require connecting to the internet to activate the TV or something dumb like that.
My current TV only connects for Netflix, and I'm this close to cutting that out (just need my wife to finish her series). Everything else is on my Jellyfin server, and if I can get everyone to switch to that, I won't need any kind of internet connection for the TV.
Bd players need internet as they only have keys for the discs made before they were made. So if you stick a newer disc in it won't play until it gets updated.
It is getting harder find dumb TVs because the smart stuff included with most TVs subsidizes keeping the initial price low. Manufactures are betting millions of dollars purchasers will sign up for the monthly apps.
That's not always easy, sometimes the WiFi is on the board itself and not just an add-in card. Or you get annoying warnings or something on the TV.
Commercial TVs will probably last a lot longer than regular retail TVs, so if I'm not going to be using all the features of the TV, I might as well spend a bit more and get something that'll last.