Pub footie fan's crusade for thinner players

A campaign has been launched to make sure pubs use widescreen TV correctly during the World Cup.

IT expert and football fan Vincent Lo is fed up with pub plasma TVs that haven't been set correctly for widescreen.

Lo said bad settings can mean up to one third of the transmitted picture is lost - so much of the action from the sides of the screen cannot be seen.

It's like watcing a load of fat men kicking around a rugby ball.​Vincent Lo, widescreen campaigner.

It also leaves images stretched - meaning players look fat and footballs look like rugby balls.

To counter the problem on the eve of the World Cup, Lo has launched his Pub Widescreen Football Campaign to educate licensees about how to set their plasma TVs.

Pubs that have set their TV correctly can download a certificate to tell customers that they can enjoy widescreen at the outlet.

Lo, who reckons that just one in 10 pubs has its plasma screens set correctly for widescreen, said: "This campaign isn't about persuading pubs to splash out hundreds of pounds in making changes to satisfy one person. This is about correcting an unwelcome problem that has prevailed for too long.​

"The correction is free and easy to do, and will vastly improve the experiences for everyone during a great sporting event that happens only once every four years."

- Information on the campaign - and advice on how to solve problems by adjusting the Sky Digibox - is available from www.radiofeeds.co.uk/wide​.

Sky also reminded licensees to check the settings for every individual screen.