alltrustgone CBS forced CNET staff to recast vote after Hopper won 'Best in Show&#39

[+Warwagon MVC]

CBS forced CNET staff to recast vote after Hopper won 'Best in Show' at CES

On Friday, news broke that CNET had been forced by its parent company CBS to remove the Dish Network's Hopper set-top box from its "Best of CES" awards due to ongoing litigation between the two companies. CBS has been battling the Dish Network in court over the Hopper's ability to skip past commercials automatically (NBC, ABC, and Fox are also taking action).

CBS Interactive representatives told The Verge that the Hopper with Sling had been "withdrawn from consideration" from the "Best of CES" awards due to CBS's lawsuit with Dish; that the ban on coverage is limited only to specific products implicated in ongoing litigation with CNET's parent company; and that the ban only applied to product reviews and that news coverage would be exempt. That policy appears to have been hastily put in place. Prior to the move Friday, CNET had reviewed the Hopper and written extensively about the device.

But the problems may go deeper than that. The Verge has now learned that the facts of the case are somewhat different than the story CNET and CBS had previously shared with the public. According to sources familiar with the matter, the Hopper was not simply an entrant in the Best of CES awards for the site: it was actually chosen as the winner of the "Best of Show" award (as voted by CNET's editorial staff).

http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/14/3874682/exclusive-cbs-forced-cnet-editors-to-recast-vote-after-hopper-win

I searched the forums and the front page for the word hopper and didn't find this story. I've heard Leo talk about it on This week in tech 2 weeks in a row, so I thought I would post it here.

[moloko]

I never heard of this hopper before. I guess this is the news channels shutting it down? Anyway this is very poor of them to do. If it was voted best then it is the best. How can you just remove it from consideration becuase you do not like the company that makes it. That is horrible journalism.

[Growled Member]

I'm not surprised. I never have cared much for CBS. Cnet has really went down under their watch. It's nothing but fanboy blogs now.

[remixedcat]

I'm not surprised. I never have cared much for CBS. Cnet has really went down under their watch. It's nothing but fanboy blogs now.

Cnet's always been scum.

[Mr. Gibs]

I never heard of this hopper before. I guess this is the news channels shutting it down? Anyway this is very poor of them to do. If it was voted best then it is the best. How can you just remove it from consideration becuase you do not like the company that makes it. That is horrible journalism.

Happens all the time. Tons of people think that EA pays off IGN and PCGamer to give their games top ratings / GOTY.

But yet, it's pathetic.

[moloko]

Happens all the time. Tons of people think that EA pays off IGN and PCGamer to give their games top ratings / GOTY.

But yet, it's pathetic.

There is nothing people can do either for this to change, that is the horrible thing.

[Dot Matrix]

The only CBS/ZDNet blog I can read is Ed Bott's. The rest on ZDNet/CNET are full of FUD.