YouTube TV earned its spot as the most popular live streaming service in the US with help from features like a polished live guide and high bitrate video, but for many users, its wide selection of sports content is what got them to subscribe. Just in time for March Madness, Google is unveiling a new feature that will take the FOMO out of those days when multiple live events are happening simultaneously.
A new multiview feature will allow YouTube TV subscribers to stream up to four channels at the same time, with the option to easily switch between audio feeds and closed captions by using your d-pad to highlight the event you want to follow the closest. You’ll even be able to switch from the multiview layout to a full screen view of one feed and back. There is a catch, however: multiview streams will be pre-selected by YouTube TV, meaning you can’t mix and match any four programs of your choosing.
To ensure that you don’t need extra bandwidth or computing power to use this new feature, all the processing is done on YouTube TV’s end — so instead of streaming as many as four simultaneous feeds, you’re essentially just streaming one that has selectable audio and video from several sources. The YouTube platform already had a feature that allowed multiple creators to go live together in one stream, so the company built on this to enable YouTube TV’s new multiview.
YouTube says the multiview feature will be rolled out to customers in stages over the next few months, with full availability expected by football season. It should be useful for any busy day in sports, but multiview almost seems like it was purpose-built for NFL Sunday Ticket, which YouTube recently purchased the rights to for a reported $2 billion price tag.
As with most new YouTube TV features, this should come as an account-based server-side update. To check if you have it, head to the Home tab and look under the Top Picks for You category, which is where any available multiview feeds will reside. The company today also announced that multiview will be coming to the main YouTube app later this year, so be on the lookout for a combined feed of your favorite live streamers.
