I nearly went ahead with Homechoice at the start of the summer but pulled out when I found out that the TV was broadcast in 4:3 and not 16:9 widescreen. Now I see I can get Sky Sports so am going to reconsider.. has the picture ratio situation changed at all?? Or is it likely to in the near future??

HC does broadcast in 16:9 where possible.

what does where possible mean? Does this mean that some but not all channels are available in 16:9?

All the 'terrestrial' channels plus ITV2/E4 and maybe some others are broadcast in 16:9.

I don't know about Sky Sports though as I don't subscribe - but I'd imagine they should be if Sky supply a w/s feed to homechoice.

Only channels that are transmitted in 16:9 are broadcast that way:
i.e. All BBC, All ITV, Ch4, E4, Ch5 but not the likes of uktv Gold, MTV etc.

and not Sky Sports

They couldnt possibly broadcast stuff in 16:9 that wasnt sent to them in 16:9 (i.e Sky Sports)

...BUT all the movies (i.e. those you pay for) are broadcast in 4:3

So you are still better off going down to the local video store. Until MPEG-4 becomes the standard for VOD broadcasts the quality is still poor.

Sky Sports does broadcast in 16:9 where applicable