I tend to agree with Luke Delwiche's contention that letterboxed commercials are designed to entice the viewing audience into believing that the ad is part of a theatrical trailer for an upcoming film. To that thought, I might add that the advertisers are gearing the letterboxed commercials to the same younger demographics that frequent the movie theaters. If you "hook" that younger audience into believing they are about to see a preview, you might keep them for at least part of the advertiser's "message". It all comes back to dollars and cents......and any device one can think of these days to keep a viewer's finger off that remote button. Brian D. Mudd [log in to unmask]