TV aspect ratio

[B. Amish]

does anyone know why all channels don't broadcast in 16:9? it seems almost all tv's are now a 16:9 screen size. lots of hd channels are broadcast in letterbox and then the commercials are even smaller, or they have the square image with the blacked out areas on the left and right sides.

it's just really annoying to me. why do they do this? why don't they just broadcast in 16:9 so it fills up your entire screen?

[LMITOUT]

Couple of different reasons:

1. The channel doesn't broadcast in high definition (16:9).

2. The channel does broadcast in high definition but your television provider doesn't carry their HD channel, only the SD channel which is 4:3.

3. The program/TV show wasn't recorded in high definition.

If the channel takes 4:3 programming and stretches it to 16:9 then people will complain because everyone looks short and fat.

[spearchucker]

I think even some SD channels are now broadcast in widescreen, FSN comes to mind for the Wild and Twins games.