BBC iPlayer has failed the Winter Olympics in 2 major ways

As a skier and general extreme sports enthusiast, I’ve been enjoying the Winter Olympics coverage, but I’m bitterly disappointed that the BBC has let viewers down in two key ways.

For many reasons, such as the beautiful landscapes and feats of human achievement, the Winter Olympics is a particular highlight of the sporting calendar but I haven’t been able to enjoy it as much as I’d like.

The BBC coverage has been very good on the whole, but the two faults I’ve found with it lie with iPlayer, the broadcaster’s streaming app.

First up, the coverage doesn’t include any 4K streams. Not even for certain events, along with the usual caveats of having a compatible TV or other device.

The BBC first tested Ultra HD content on iPlayer in 2016 – yes, a full decade ago – and, since then, we’ve been able to watch Wimbledon tennis, World Cup football, previous Olympics and even a Royal Wedding in 4K.

So, where’s the high-quality coverage of the Winter Olympics? I’ve paid good money for my TV Licence.

From what I can gather, it is being filmed in Ultra HD, which is available via NBC and Peacock, so perhaps the BBC just didn’t secure the rights. But it’s still a big disappointment.

The other problem I’ve had is the lack of a basic feature on iPlayer – split screen.

More than any other sporting competition, the Olympics has so many different events happening at the same time. The Beeb has limited live coverage to just two streams for 2026.

In some ways, that simplifies which sport to watch, but there have been plenty of times where I’d like to watch both simultaneously without using two devices. A simple split screen option would solve that, with an option to choose which one I want the audio for.

The appetite for live TV might be waning and TV Licence numbers declining with it, but come on BBC, give us some good reasons to pay up.