Sony characterized the problem as unintentional. It told Engadget that it had discovered a "software issue" that incorrectly flagged Kodi as a kernel object, and that there would be a fix in a future update.

An intentional move wouldn't be completely unexpected. Unlike most TV makers, Sony also produces movies and TV programming -- it might not want to enable apps that are frequently used to undercut its entertainment business. Nonetheless, it hasn't exactly earned many fans in the Kodi community. At least some people use Kodi for completely legal media playback, and Sony's move punishes them alongside the content thieves. This would also be an unusual way to interfere with Google Play -- if it really doesn't want people to download Kodi, can't it just mark its TVs as incompatible? The current approach produces an error that might lead some to think Kodi or the TV's software is malfunctioning.