Maybe this is a dumb question, but who/what is responsible for how channels display on my old 4:3 SD CRT tv? Most programming comes through in a 16x9 format, even though it's not HD, but most channels use letterboxing so as to display the entire image on my tv. However, some channels don't, so the image is zoomed in to fill the screen, but then a third of the image, on the left and right, gets chopped off, which I hate. Even some channels that you'd think would display the same way, don't. ESPN displays one way, but ESPN2 is the other. Fox is one way, FS1 is the other. What I'd like to see is all channels displayed with letterboxing, so I can see the entire image. Unfortunately, a channel I watch quite a bit, The Weather Channel, which has always been displayed with letterboxing, just yesterday switched to the awful zoomed in format. Now, all the temperature and radar graphics on the left and right side of the image are gone. I'm sure the programming sources and cable companies assume, rightly, that nearly every tv out there now has a 16:9 screen. However, is there some reason why some channels don't use letterboxing for the few older tvs still out there? Is Mediacom simply passing through The Weather Channel's signal, so I should be contacting them?
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