The economics of pan-and-scan

Professor Bainbridge has market-based explanations for the aversion to letterbox, and its effect in shrinking films, I discussed recently. He blames the market for DVDs. His bottom line is that "the growth of HDTV and various FCC rules requiring TVs sold after 2007 to have digital tuners may encourage widespread adoption of widescreen format TVs, which may finally kill off pan-and-scan."

Actually, in my earlier post I feared pan-and-scan would become less necessary because filmmakers are squeezing the movie frame.  But the DVD market gives me some hope because, unlike broadcast movies, DVDs can easily be produced in both formats. This is also an advantage of Internet-based film distribution, which is likely to be the future of film if we can wire enough fat pipes.  These media may give filmmakers the necessary incentive and freedom to widen the frame.

In the meantime, I think that the culprit in keeping tv screens boxy is sports, which look better on the squared-off screens.

PS: Technical detail courtesy of Professor Bainbridge confirms that I'm not seeing things -- movies really are different.