<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>On Aug 25, 2008, at 10:40 AM, Steve Peters - Priority Electronics wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"> <div> <!-- Converted from text/rtf format --><p><font size="2" face="Arial">When the digital cutoff comes in feb of next year…I'm kinda curious about the standard over the air channels that cable companies carry. </font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Will they be going widescreen on me?</font> </p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Right now, I can have a 4:3 tv and watch the 4:3 local channels from my cable company, as oppossed to the 16:9 hd locals. </font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">But after feb of next year, will those 4:3 channels even exist? I know that if I was doing just OTA, then with a converter box, the answer would be yes, only widescreen, leaving black bars above and below the picture…but what about cable? They have not mentioned anything in their ads except that you'll be just fine with cable.</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">-Steve</font> </p> </div> </blockquote></div><div>Your cable provider knows what will happen. It's up to each cable company to decide what they will send and how they will send it as long as it fits within the FCC regulations. FCC has not mandated that everything be sent in widescreen or high definition or 5.1 surround or anything like that.</div><br><div>Also, your assumptions are wrong about OTA digital. OA digital doesn't necessarily mean wide screen. It doesn't necessarily mean high definition, either. My local PBS station provides a few subchannels that are 4:3 and standard definition broadcast over the air digital. NBC sends along a weather sub-channel with these specs, too. You will find that *most* stations will broadcast in widescreen and high definition because the spec allows them to and they want to keep people watching. :)</div><div><br></div><div>-Brad</div><div><br></div></body></html>