Viewers in the United Kingdom that are enjoying a summer of sport can watch coverage on the BBC in ultra-high definition with high dynamic range, but only online through the iPlayer. The number that will see this is necessarily limited, compared to the millions of viewers using traditional television.
A peak audience of 20.9 million watched England beat Ukraine 4-0, making it the most-watched live television event of the year with 81.8% audience share. The match in Rome drew 5.2 million live streams across BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.
For the first time football fans can experience the UEFA European Championship live in higher quality on BBC iPlayer, as part of an ongoing trial from the BBC.
Viewers with compatible televisions and a high-speed internet connection can watch 22 games shown on the BBC in ultra-high definition and high dynamic range using hybrid log gamma.
Viewers of the Wimbledon tennis championship will be able to watch every Centre Court match in higher quality, but only through the BBC iPlayer. It follows previous trial coverage in UHD, which started in 2018.
Access will still only be available on a first come, first served basis, to an unspecified number of concurrent users, although previous experience suggests that limit is unlikely to be reached.
Viewers will need an internet connection capable of delivering 24 megabits per second for the full 2160p UHD experience, although a lower resolution 1440p version is available at 12 megabits per second.
The enhanced coverage will be accessible through the BBC iPlayer to viewers with a compatible UHD television. There is a long list of supported television models is published on the BBC web site.
It includes products from Amazon to Vestel, including leading manufacturers Samsung, LG, Sony, Panasonic and Philips. It includes the Amazon Fire TV Cube, certain Roku products, and set-top boxes from Virgin Media and Humax boxes for YouView.
Curiously, Sky Q boxes are not currently supported. That is despite Sky pioneering the introduction of UHD services in the United Kingdom.
Some might question why the BBC is only providing UHD coverage online. While it might not be practical to provide it through terrestrial transmissions, it would be possible to provide it on cable or satellite.
BBC policy people would probably argue that this would discriminate against people that receive television through traditional terrestrial transmissions. That is around two-thirds of the country. However, over 30% of homes have Sky satellite service and another 5% have Sky without a subscription or use Freesat.
Providing UHD coverage on satellite would offer broad reach at relatively low cost, but the BBC is keen to promote its iPlayer at any cost.