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YouTube TV is testing "Multiview" during March Madness

Pictured: Alexander Maxham
By Alexander Maxham
March 14, 2023
Featured image for YouTube TV is testing

YouTube TV said last year that it was working on a multiview mode that would allow you to watch multiple channels at the same time. Now, that feature is available in a testing phase for March Madness.

The company says that some “members have early access to this feature in the first round”. The feature is pretty straightforward, allowing you to watch four games in a 2×2 grid. This is pretty cool to have for the NCAA Tournament, which officially gets underway today with the first two games in the first four round.

Currently, you’ll be able to select your desired viewing experience from the “Top Picks for you” carousel. But it’s important to note that during this preview, YouTube TV is not allowing to choose which channels get added. These will be pre-selected. In the future, you will be able to customize your own multiview live streams.

This feature was first teased after YouTube won the NFL Sunday Ticket rights

YouTube TV first talked about this multiview feature after it was announced that they had won the NFL Sunday Ticket rights beginning with the 2023-24 season. The multiview functionality was a big feature of NFL Sunday Ticket when DIRECTV had it. So it’s something users really wanted, and Google is providing it.

YouTube says that it leveraged existing live-streaming tech to build multiview. Stating that the “Live team had already built a really powerful compositor to enable creators to go live together on YouTube and we had a lot of the tech required to build this great new feature for YouTube TV.”

While Multiview is launching today as a test for some subscribers, YouTube TV says that it will be available for all subscribers in the coming months. Of course, this is likely barring any big bugs or other issues coming up during the testing this week.

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