Nellie Andreeva

Dish is using the recent controversy over the Best In Show award the satcaster’s new Hopper with Sling DVR did not receive as a recruiting tool. The ad-zapping service was awarded the top prize by the editors of CNET before they were overruled by corporate parent CBS who is suing Dish over Hopper. Today Dish bought full-page ads in several major newspapers to crow about the award it didn’t get and blast CBS. In the ad, which first appeared on Dish’s Web site, the company says “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.’”

The controversy shifted the Hopper debate about whether it is ethical for a distributor whose service depends on programming to cut the lifeline that makes a lot of that programming possible, commercials, to one about journalistic integrity. CNET media writer Greg Sandoval resigned as a result of CBS’ decision to bar Dish from getting the award. In statement issued earlier this week, the network said it “has been consistent on this situation from the beginning” and called the debacle ”an isolated and unique incident” involving “a product that has been challenged as illegal” by CBS “and nearly every other major media company as well.”

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.