Prenda's Latest Trick: Pretend There Are NO Defendants So No One Can Object

Dish Turns CBS' Actions Against It; Touts Its Revoked 'Best In Show' Status With A Damning Footnote

from the CBS-asks-for-more-bullets;-notes-other-foot-'only-lightly-damaged' dept

Wed, Jan 23rd 2013 4:29pm — Tim Cushing

Dish Network's Hopper DVR has certainly made more than a few broadcasters uncomfortable. One of them, CBS, decided last week that it would rather drag its own brand through the mud (CNET) and lose a reporter than give its current lawsuit target a bit of favorable press. CNET named the Hopper "Best in Show" at CES, only to have CBS unceremoniously strip Dish's DVR of the title, a decision CBS likely now regrets.

The Consumerist reports that Dish is taking a well-deserved swing at CBS, this time on its own website where its touts the Hopper being named Best in Show, along with a very noticeable asterisk.

The wording after the asterisk reads:

*What’s an asterisk doing in our award? CBS will go to any lengths to keep you from enjoying ad-skipping technology – even censoring its own writers and throwing out their decision to name Hopper ‘Best In Show.’ Your vote is the only one that really matters.

Dish is also doing its part to keep print journalism alive, taking out full page ads in several newspapers.

So, what did CBS gain from freezing its legal foe out of an award? Absolutely nothing.

The broadcaster was reportedly worried that having one of its subsidiaries give an award to a Hopper DVR would possibly hurt its case in court. However, now that it’s been revealed that the device did indeed win the award — even if will never receive the actual accolade — it has only turned into a public relations boost to Dish and the Hopper.

If people weren't already aware of the product, they certainly are now. And for many of those, technology that time-shifts AND skips ads is right up their alley. In addition, more people are publicly aware of the legal battle, which seems to boil down to the networks' insistence that customers watch every ad. Bad news all around, and CBS needs look no further than the still-smoking gun in its hand to explain all the brand-new holes in its foot.

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Filed Under: best in show, cnet, journalism, marketing
Companies: cbs, dish

28 Comments

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silverscarcat (profile), 23 Jan 2013 @ 4:32pm

I admit...
I laughed as I read this.

I can just imagine CBS holding a gun and looking at its feet and wondering why it hurts so much.
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Andrew Norton (profile), 23 Jan 2013 @ 4:43pm

I can just imagine CBS holding a gun and looking at its feet and wondering why it hurts so much.

And then going on about how it's their patriotic duty to blow itself in the foot as many times as possible, and implore the courts and congress to craft legislation to enable them to continue to do this.
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sehlat (profile), 23 Jan 2013 @ 4:44pm

CBS *was* the network to watch.
They could practically walk on water. Not so much now, though.
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Big Al, 23 Jan 2013 @ 4:49pm

Re: CBS *was* the network to watch.
"They could practically walk on water. Not so much now, though."

Not surprising with all the holes in their feet.
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Hephaestus (profile), 23 Jan 2013 @ 5:05pm

There is this thing called a remote. It has this other thing called a mute button, I use it on every commercial, as do many other people. There is no difference.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Jan 2013 @ 5:27pm

Who cares about CBS?
Infrequently, there is a need to call it what it is, and CBS is a company that sells ads.

Sometimes, after selling ads, there is money left over to produce a show that people will watch.

But because I haven't seen anything worth watching on CBS since "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman", starring Dr. Michaela "Mike", I'm guessing that CBS is still struggling from low ratings.

I don't care how it's marketed, but the product works pretty well, and it's good to see it win an award. unlike CBS's primetime lineup. Their last primetime emmy award was in 1974 if I remember correctly.
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Jeff Rife, 23 Jan 2013 @ 5:46pm

Re: Who cares about CBS?
Their last primetime emmy award was in 1974 if I remember correctly.
If you are talking about the "big" show awards (drama/comedy series) you're only off by 21 years (2005, Everybody Loves Raymond).

If you are talking about the "big" actor awards, you are off by 28 years (2012, Jon Cryer).

And, they've literally locked up the "reality-competition show" award with The Amazing Race winning for the past 8 years...every year that the award has been given.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Jan 2013 @ 5:46pm

Re: I admit...
Great comment. Somehow, there's a reason for or against gun control -- I just can't figure which way...
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CBS, 23 Jan 2013 @ 6:02pm

I don't get it.
We're really hurt and endangered by all the imaginary crimes committed against us and all the pretend laws we tell ourselves must be being broken.

Don't talk about the Dish Hopper. Furthermore, anyone who says they are going to Target to buy a dish hopper for their kitchen will be sued for encouraging copyright affringement.
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Zos (profile), 23 Jan 2013 @ 6:10pm

Re:
keep telling yourself that.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Jan 2013 @ 7:48pm

Re: Re: Who cares about CBS?
Nobody loves raymond. Especially not me. The votes were stacked.

Jon Lovitz is a better actor than anyone on The Amazing Race He played a great Hanukkah Harry at NBC's Saturday Night Live.
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Alana (profile), 23 Jan 2013 @ 11:26pm

Crummy Bullshit Servers.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Jan 2013 @ 4:33am

Re: I don't get it.
WTH is "copyright affringement"?
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DannyB (profile), 24 Jan 2013 @ 6:39am

Re:
You should upgrade. My remote has not only a mute button but a fast forward button. Fantastic for skipping commercials. I've had it for a decade (the remote) but upgraded the device (TiVo) during that time.

An even better upgrade is to Netflix, which makes the TiVo obsolete. My remote still has a mute and fast forward button, but there are no commercials to skip. I am finding quite a few TV shows from a few years ago that I didn't watch for any number of reasons. They are very entertaining. The on-demand nature is even more convenient than TiVo.

Cable TV is obsolete and the providers of it seemingly realize this. They offer you cheaper DVRs than TiVo, which improves your experience, skips commercials, and lets you watch when you want. So why not go the whole way and make everything on demand all the time? Cheaper than all these DVRs would be to simply have one recording at the head end. Each cable system could become a miniature "netflix".

But then the content producers would have a hissy fit. "We can't allow consumers to have too convenient of an experience", they would say. Customer satisfaction goes against our most basic principles. The cable tv providers would then speak up in agreement. Yes, we augment the negative experience contractually required by the content providers, but going beyond the contract requirements and offering lousy customer service, high prices, and unrelated bandwidth caps on internet usage.
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DannyB (profile), 24 Jan 2013 @ 6:46am

Re: Re: Who cares about CBS?
Everybody Loves Raymond?

I've never even heard of it. And I have one of the top tier cable packages.

(googling . . .)

Oh, I see. It's another inexpensively produced mindless "sitcom" that doesn't increase your knowledge or understanding of the world.

Oh, I remember now, back to the '70's when everyone was getting sick of network TV, just as cable was coming on the scene. Least objectionable programming. Something that nobody actually likes, but is just good enough that you won't turn the channel. It doesn't appeal to anyone, but it might keep you from changing channels between ads.
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DannyB (profile), 24 Jan 2013 @ 6:50am

Re: Re: I don't get it.
> WTH is "copyright affringement"?

Maybe it is short for "affinity" and "infringement".

Affringement. The liking of copyright infringement?
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ken (profile), 24 Jan 2013 @ 7:22am

Funny since CBS owns C-Net and Download.com which was and remains the main conduit for file sharing sites such as Kazaa, Limewire, Morphius, Grokster, and even Napster.
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Lowestofthekeys (profile), 24 Jan 2013 @ 7:35am

Re: Re: Re: Who cares about CBS?
Jon Lovitz is a good voice actor too. I liekd his role as Jay Sherman in The Critic.
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Sneeje (profile), 24 Jan 2013 @ 8:27am

Re: Re: Re: I don't get it.
I think it is the superset of crimes (encoded in lawbooks or not) that CBS and other content industry folks believe we all commit, of which infringement is a part. Affringement includes not watching commercials, not buying advertiser's products, submitting negative reviews of anything in their line-up, coughing on Les Moonves, and so on.
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shane (profile), 24 Jan 2013 @ 8:33am

Hee hee
"...and CBS needs look no further than the still-smoking gun in its hand to explain all the brand-new holes in its foot."

I love that line.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Jan 2013 @ 8:41am

Re: Re: Who cares about CBS?
Almost right Top Chef won the 2010 Emmy in that category but the Amazing Race has won every other time that award was given. Seven straight and two since wins.
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jupiterkansas (profile), 24 Jan 2013 @ 9:04am

Re: I admit...
I'm surprised CBS has any feet left.
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Mason Wheeler (profile), 24 Jan 2013 @ 10:47am

Re: Re: I admit...
Really? Because with the way they try to dance so gracelessly around the issues involved, I'd say they have two left feet. ;)
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Bergman (profile), 24 Jan 2013 @ 4:56pm

Re: Re: I admit...
A committee is the only known organism with 100 stomachs and no brains.
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Bergman (profile), 24 Jan 2013 @ 4:57pm

Re:
Just like there's no difference between walking 20 miles to work and driving 20 miles to work. You eventually get to the same place after all, so they're absolutely the same.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Jan 2013 @ 7:09pm

Re: Re: I admit...
There is a lot to be said for gun control, then they would have hit the target instead of their foot.
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FauxReal (profile), 25 Jan 2013 @ 10:09pm

Re: Who cares about CBS?
Craig Furguson is worth watching.
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Niall (profile), 28 Jan 2013 @ 4:49am

Re: Re: Re: I admit...
Would that be a MO-O-O-NSTER KILL on Target?
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