As a skier and normal excessive sports activities fanatic, I’ve been having fun with the Winter Olympics protection, however I’m bitterly upset that the BBC has let viewers down in two key methods.
For a lot of causes, equivalent to the gorgeous landscapes and feats of human achievement, the Winter Olympics is a selected spotlight of the sporting calendar however I haven’t been in a position to take pleasure in it as a lot as I’d like.
The BBC protection has been excellent on the entire, however the two faults I’ve discovered with it lie with iPlayer, the broadcaster’s streaming app.
First up, the protection doesn’t embrace any 4K streams. Not even for sure occasions, together with the same old caveats of getting a appropriate TV or different machine.
The BBC first examined Extremely HD content material on iPlayer in 2016 – sure, a full decade in the past – and, since then, we’ve been in a position to watch Wimbledon tennis, World Cup soccer, earlier Olympics and even a Royal Marriage ceremony in 4K.
So, the place’s the high-quality protection of the Winter Olympics? I’ve paid good cash for my TV Licence.
Chris Martin / Foundry
From what I can collect, it is being filmed in Extremely HD, which is accessible through NBC and Peacock, so maybe the BBC simply didn’t safe the rights. But it surely’s nonetheless a giant disappointment.
The opposite drawback I’ve had is the dearth of a fundamental characteristic on iPlayer – break up display.
Greater than another sporting competitors, the Olympics has so many alternative occasions occurring on the identical time. The Beeb has restricted stay protection to simply two streams for 2026.
In some methods, that simplifies which sport to look at, however there have been loads of instances the place I’d like to look at each concurrently with out utilizing two units. A easy break up display possibility would clear up that, with an possibility to decide on which one I would like the audio for.
The urge for food for stay TV could be waning and TV Licence numbers declining with it, however come on BBC, give us some good causes to pay up.