This has ben the case in holland for several years now. With the increasing popularity if DVD the sales of widescreen TV's is growing pretty fast and prices are dropping to an acceptable level. A 32" widescreen TV cost about 3000 dutch guilders, which is around US$1500.
I was actually quite amazed to read that widescreen is not widely available. Popularity of DVD came a lot earlier in the US. And I have yet to see a widescreen TV that does not support NTSC, so the technology is there.
NTSC is great for europe too, because this enables us to order DVD's in the US at much lower prices. (although I personally use PAL60 to play NTSC discs. PAL60 has about the same framerate and resolution as NTSC, but with the superior PAL color signal).
> ....and have it fit your TV with no annoying bars at the top and bottom.
Well, with most DVD's begin 2.35:1, you'll have black bars anyway.
I can't wait for a real world standard for HDTV (if it can ever be agreed upon)