Back in March, YouTube TV rolled out its first stab at a multiview mode — the way to see multiple channels at the same time. It was just for March Madness college basketball games though, since so many air at once that it's hard to follow the field.
Just last week, we learned of a big YouTube TV multiview upgrade, as the service announced plans to expand this feature beyond sports. Now, we have a better idea about what specific channels you'll be able to watch simultaneously.
This news comes from The Desk, which got an early look at multiview in action. The feature, as YouTube TV's explained, gives you the options to watch pre-selected groups of channels, paired because of similar content.
For example, sports fans can watch ESPN, ESPN 2, Fox Sports 1 and the Golf Channel. News watchers will get a mutliview across the worldwide political landscape, with BBC News, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC. The Desk didn't mention the Spanish-language sports channel options that YouTube TV previously detailed.
If multiview sounds like too much, know that you only hear one feed at a time, based on the channel you select.
This feature is currently rolling out slowly to users on some of the best streaming devices, including these platforms: Android TV/Google TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV.
YouTube multiview channels
| Multiview set | Channels |
|---|---|
| Sports | ESPN, ESPN 2, Fox Sports 1 (FS1), NBC Golf Channel |
| News | BBC News, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC |
| Business news | CNBC, Fox Business Network |
| Weather | Fox Weather, The Weather Channel |
Analysis: What's missing and what's off
One annoying missed shot on YouTube's implementation — which is found in Fubo's Apple TV 4K multview and Apple TV's multiview for its MLS and MLB games — is the ability to increase the size of one stream, and relegate the other two to a smaller, picture-in-picture style. You simply must watch all at the same size.
That's in keeping with the inability to select channels you want to put in multiview, the other issue to be fixed. Currently, YouTube TV's multiview is controlled on their end, and not yours, save for the ability to select which channel's audio you want to hear.
The other aspect that perplexes is the specific choice of the Golf Channel for the fourth sports network, as it's not exactly on the same level as the ESPN and FOX Sports networks it's alongside. FS2 and NBC Sports Network would make more sense. Hopefully TNT can slot in once NBA season starts again.
That said, YouTube TV isn't presenting this as a finished feature, but something that's being improved upon over time. YouTube TV rolling out multiview helps ensure it keeps its place as one of the best cable TV alternatives.
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