Google-owned YouTube TV will launch a new app experience in the coming weeks that will allow streamers to build custom multiview experiences beyond what is available today.
Currently, YouTube TV’s multiview features are limited to sports and news channels, with the service offering pre-built multiview options that include channels like ESPN, CNBC, Fox Business, the Weather Chanel, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Fox Sports 1 and Golf Channel. The multiview options available to streamers today are categorized around “sports,” “business news,” “news” and “weather,” though the company also extends multiview features during some key events, like the NBA and NHL playoffs, and offers enhanced multiview for subscribers of its NFL Sunday Ticket that allows fans to choose among dozens of pre-arranged multiview screens.
Moving forward, Google says it will soon allow YouTube TV subscribers to build their own multiview experiences with non-sports programming, which will start with a handful of channels.
The company did not say whether its forthcoming multiview enhancements would still pre-determine the arrangement of the channels that are available to streamers, nor did Google reveal which channels would be included at launch.
YouTube TV is one of a few companies that offers multiview options to customers of its cable TV replacement. Fubo has long offered truly-customizable multiview that allows subscribers to pick the precise channels they want to watch, and arrange them however they’d like, though its multiview option is only supported on powerful devices like the Apple TV and Roku Ultra. (By comparison, YouTube TV’s multiview is widely supported on phones, tablets and streaming TV hardware — though, again, it’s limited to only the channels and arrangements YouTube TV chooses to provide.)
DirecTV is also another company that has offered multiview features in the past: Its satellite TV service has included dedicated “mix” channels for news and sports, with pop-up channels covering severe weather and other breaking news as warranted. Last year, DirecTV began testing multiview on its streaming apps with the launch of a pop-up channel that covered the 2024 presidential election, with live feeds from Fox News, CNN, Newsmax and MSNBC augmented by real-time election results provided by the Associated Press.
