CEA President Gary Shapiro late Thursday weighed in on Dish...

p5) from consideration for its Best of CES awards. CNET is an affiliate of CBS, which like ABC, Fox and NBC have sued Dish in federal court seeking injunctions that would bar the AutoHop feature (CD Dec 5 p19). “We are extremely disappointed that CBS has interfered with CNET’s Best of CES awards,” Shapiro said in a statement. “CES has enjoyed a long and productive partnership with CNET and the Best of CES awards. Due to a pending lawsuit, CNET parent CBS is practicing effective censorship over CNET’s editorial staff. Through this action, they are denying CNET readers full access to information about an exciting innovation introduced here this week. CBS has long stood as a champion of the First Amendment. In this same spirit, we call upon CBS to reconsider its decision.” CBS Interactive, which runs CNET, pulled the Hopper with Sling “due to active litigation involving our parent company CBS Corp.,” CNET spokeswoman Rosabel Tao said. “We will no longer be reviewing products manufactured by companies with which we are in litigation with respect to such product.” CNET’s action “came out of the blue,” Dish spokesman Dave Arland told us. Dish executives were notified of the decision “just a few minutes” before the Best of CES awards ceremony was to start at 11 a.m. Thursday, just as they were leaving to attend the event, Arland said. In a statement, Dish CEO Joe Clayton blasted the “heavy-handed tactics” of CBS in denying CNET its “editorial independence.” Hopper with Sling “is all about consumer choice and control over the TV experience,” Clayton said. That CBS “would censor that message is insulting to consumers,” he said.