Was DISH Robbed at CES?

[Hall]

The CBS legal team is not keeping their court case clean; they are just embarrassing their whole corporate community.

This is a case of a difference in opinion on how to handle a situation. How CBS' legal group would proceed and how their PR group would proceed are two vastly different worlds ! The legal group would say say "they can't win this award or it hurts our court case - fix it !". Their PR people are stuck with how to deal with it, cover it, downplay it or ultimately "fix it". See below.

I was obviously referring to the decision to go public with it. Why not just give the award to #2 on the list and be done with it?

Yeap, that's what I would have done if I were CBS / CNET. I would have declared the # 2 product the winner and been done with it. Is that ethical ? Nope.... Is the business world 100% ethical ? Nope... That's purely from a business standpoint too, not my personal opinion.

For the record:
1) I'm a Dish customer for 8+ years
2) I have a Hopper / Joey
3) I HATE and do not watch commercials

 

[Hall]

What makes you think it wasn't? You're the one calling them smart. I don't think there were any smart decisions in the entire process.

Do we know who caught that the Hopper was in the competition ? No. The most recent reports are saying it was that Leslie guy, the top person at CBS, who made the final decision.

Who thinks that Leslie guy pays attention to CES, CNET, or anything technology related ?

I was smart that they caught that the Dish was in the competition. Did they catch it too late ? Yeap... Did they handle the rest of the situation after finding that the Hopper was in it ? Nope.

 

[TheKrell]

IMHO the resignations should start with Les Moonvies, followed by the legal team who don't seem to understand that popularity contests don't affect the court case one way or another.

 

[AKGolf]

Do we know who caught that the Hopper was in the competition ? No. The most recent reports are saying it was that Leslie guy, the top person at CBS, who made the final decision.

Who thinks that Leslie guy pays attention to CES, CNET, or anything technology related ?

I was smart that they caught that the Dish was in the competition. Did they catch it too late ? Yeap... Did they handle the rest of the situation after finding that the Hopper was in it ? Nope.

We have a difference of opinion, I don't think there were any smart decisions on the CBS side.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

IMHO the resignations should start with Les Moonvies, followed by the legal team who don't seem to understand that popularity contests don't affect the court case one way or another.

If Moonves wants to resign, that would be OK by me, but I don't think the act of withholding a private award to a recipient is a bad offense. A stupid one?? Yes.

I do think the decision to tell the world that Dish did win but we're not giving the award to them is a horrifically bad business decision. Then, to announce that you are no longer going to review their products, all due to litigation with the parent company, is shockingly bad business decision for a site that many have come to rely on for what we had thought were unbiased reviews.

Now we know why Consumer Reports is an independent company....

 

[inazsully]

No doubt it was a blunder. How big a blunder depends on if this gets big play in the newspapers. If it does then Dish will see a advertising windfall. The more potential subs that see in print that the Hopper won the big prize the more of those subs will choose Dish over their competition.

 

[TheKrell]

If Moonves wants to resign, that would be OK by me, but I don't think the act of withholding a private award to a recipient is a bad offense.

Compromising the independence of your news divisions is a pretty serious offense IMHO.

 

[DBS Commando]

CNET/CBS is in damage control mode

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30677_3-57563877-244/the-2013-best-of-ces-awards-cnets-story/

https://twitter.com/sandocnet/status/290856937472528384

CBS Statement:

CBS has nothing but the highest regard for the editors and writers at CNET, and has managed that business with respect as part of its CBS Interactive division since it was acquired in 2008. This has been an isolated and unique incident in which a product that has been challenged as illegal, was removed from consideration for an award. The product in question is not only the subject of a lawsuit between Dish and CBS, but between Dish and nearly every other major media company as well. CBS has been consistent on this situation from the beginning, and, in terms of covering actual news, CNET maintains 100% editorial independence, and always will. We look forward to the site building on its reputation of good journalism in the years to come.

 

[dare2be]

CBS has been consistent on this situation from the beginning, and, in terms of covering actual news, CNET maintains 100% editorial independence, and always will.

Convenient, all they have to do now is change the definition of "actual news" on a case-by-case basis to suit their needs.

 

[Foxbat]

So, does this mean that Dish can no longer advertise on CBS? I mean, CBS can't afford to lend the Hopper any air of legitimacy by accepting money to place this (illegal) product in front of its viewers.

 

[digiblur]

I can see why CNET and CBS did this. They really had to do it.

-- "Sensorly or it didn't happen!"

 

[3HaloODST]

I can see why CNET and CBS did this. They really had to do it.

-- "Sensorly or it didn't happen!"

Shocked...

Sent from my iPhone 4S using Forum Runner

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324734904578242082771027240.html

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/b...01/dishs-hopper-would-have-been-a-winner.html

 

[Hall]

So, does this mean that Dish can no longer advertise on CBS?

Do they today? I'll bet they don't... The networks can and do pick who they'll take advertising from. They can afford to tell Dish "no".



Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[HanoverPretzel]

CBS and CNet have pretty much ruined their journalistic credibility here. I know it might sting to have a division of your company write an article declaring a product you're suing another company over to be the best on the market in a given category, but that's not as bad as the sting of basically declaring that your tech site can't be trusted to give honest objective straight-forward news, ratings, and reviews. It would be easy to, after their writers voted the Hopper the best in it's category, write the "best of" piece and toss in a note that there is a question about it's legality and your parent company is suing over it, but that right now as things stand the product is the best in it's category, legal issues aside. But by simply declaring it ineligible, you're saying nothing you do can really be trusted to be unbiased. Suddenly everything written or not written is going to be scrutinized as to whether it's propoganda for your parent company or a targeted exclusion designed to benefit your parent company.

Further, CBS News is a huge nationwide current events and political news brand with a large number of television and Internet followers, that has a reputation for telling things the way they are going back to Walter Cronkite on CBS Evening News, who at one point was the biggest name in news in this country, and continuing through Dan Rather on the same show and some other guy who's still probably getting millions of viewers from that anchor chair every night, and 60 Minutes every week and all their great investigative journalism through the years. All of the sudden, you've hurt all of that legacy and brand building, too, for anyone who's aware of this. If CBS can dictate this way to one news division, why not the main one, too? They're giving up a lot of money and brand equity to make this move.

And, even here, their heavy handness has just given Dish a lot of free advertising.

I'm not a Dish shill. I've got plenty of criticisms of Dish, but Dish is absolutely right here. They were clearly wronged, and C-Net and CBS are clearly in the wrong and have called their reputations into questions over a relatively small matter that wouldn't have effected much if they had just been objective, followed procedure, and gone forward and declared Dish the winner with a disclaimer or an asterisk.

 

[Jim5506]

I hope Dishes ad agency is cooking up some really spicey ads depicting the CBS honchos going ape over the award selection and smashing a DVR with a large sledge hammer.

 

[TNGTony]

I can see an add campaign showing TV Execs in a board room talking about the automatic add skip feature and how people wont be able to watch their great commercials (insert funny, but annoying 5 second jingle). Or, having the exec argue about how great the Hopper is but how they can't give it the award because it skips commercials too well.

 

[Ronnie-]

Dish is starting to talk about it on their facebook page.

Learn how CBS violated basic journalistic principles of freedom & integrity. http://usat.ly/W7TraR If CBS will stop DISH from winning a CNET tech award, imagine what they’d do to other stories that weren’t ideal for their business.

http://www.facebook.com/DISH

 

[Peter Parker]

So, does this mean that Dish can no longer advertise on CBS? I mean, CBS can't afford to lend the Hopper any air of legitimacy by accepting money to place this (illegal) product in front of its viewers.

DISH tends to advertise on small independent stations---often ones they do not even carry----and not on the networks.

 

[Peter Parker]

Persoanlly I don't see this as the major story it has become. I am not all that concerned about whether DISH was "robbed'. I am concerned though about the objectivity of CNET. it seems that their relationship with their corporate owner is affecting their ability to carry out the role they have at CES and raises questions about the objectivity of their news coverage and reviews.