Dish needles CBS over CNET kerfuffle

Dish Network’s feud with the broadcast networks over its controversial ad-hopping device continues to escalate.

Over the weekend the satellite broadcaster, currently ensnared in a court battle with Fox, CBS and NBC over the Hopper, took out a full-page ad in The New York Times to tweak CBS.

In big, bold letters, the ad read, “Dish Hopper Named Best in Show*.” Right below was this: “*What’s an asterisk doing in our award?”

There followed a brief reference to a flap that occurred earlier this month, when CBS, owner of the CNET web site, ordered CNET to remove Hopper from contention in the Best in Show category at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show. A CNET writer quit in protest over the decision.

“CBS will go to any lengths to keep you from enjoying ad-skipping technology—even so far as to censor its own writers and throw out their decision to name Hopper Best in Show,” read the ad.

The network said at the time that it would not allow CNET to recognize any company with which it was involved in litigation.

The broadcast networks say that Hopper, which allows viewers to skip DVRed commercials entirely without have to fast-forward through them, threatens their business model. Three of them have sued in an attempt to knock the device off the market.

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