NO- the only way to save the $7 Monthly Charge is to buy it and never activate on your account! - Once you activate it $7 a month heck you don't even have to have a mini just activate a NEW 4K with RVU and it's still $7 a month
Some people just would prefer to not have that extra box sitting at the TV, some folks also have said that their TVs RVU client performs better then a DIRECTV mini client. It also make an issues easier to resolve since if you use the RVU client DIRECTV and say the problem you're reporting is the fault of the TV and you need to contact their support, which then say's it's not their problem and to call DIRECTV AKA finger pointing.