BBC News multiscreen on DTT

Been meaning to ask this for a while - why is the picture squashed from 16:9 to 4:3?

Why can't they show a proper (albeit cropped) 4:3 picture?

Has it always been like this? I've only noticed it recently. Doesn't look too good.

I'm a bit confused because on my screens it looks like the 2 streams are proper 4:3, but on a widescreen TV the 2 screens become 16:9.

Maybe it's just because it's quite small it doesn't appear to squashed.

I for one am glad that they've put the multiscreens and BBC Parliament in squashed 16:9 because finally I can watch it full without huge black bars down the side of the screen! Parliament looks so much better like that!

Ta,
Joel.
xxx