The scoreboard in the middle is used only if the channel stretches the content screen on SD feed to show the content in 4:3 aspect ratio, so that the scoreboard doesn't get cut off from both the sides.
Since Sony is showing all shows in 16:9 aspect ratio on both HD and SD feeds, they should choose a scoreboard covering whole screen i.e. touching both the sides. In this way they'll be able to display more information on scoreboard rather than wasting the valuable space by showing country flags.