YouTube TV Is Releasing A Powerful New Feature (And It's A Game Changer)

Way back before streaming was ever a thing, some TVs came with a unique feature called PiP, or picture-in-picture. It allowed you to watch two things at once, like a live football game in a small boxed area while the bulk of the screen displayed something else, like a show or a movie. YouTube TV has a similar feature called multiview that takes things to the next level — it enables up to four live streams at once on a single screen. Moreover, it works on streaming devices like Roku, Google TV, Apple TV, and more, all within the YouTube TV app.

Until recently, this feature was restricted to preselected combinations and was mostly only useful for live sports. But following an earlier announcement that promised big changes coming to YouTube TV, the service is now rolling out more customization options for multiview, so you can choose what four channels are displayed. Early users are reporting the new multiview selection supports every channel on YouTube TV, completely eliminating those pesky restrictions. It's not exactly a brand-new feature — multiview itself has been around for a while — but it does breathe some new life into the experience, making it so much more useful. You can watch multiple sports games, TV shows, movies, and other content, and you can arrange them how you want across your single TV screen. It works best on larger TVs with more screen real estate.

As reported by Android Authority, when opening multiview in the YouTube TV app, you'll now be presented with a unique menu that allows you to select which channels are shown. You can also choose from a list of preselected options, across categories like Recommended, Sports, News, TV Shows, and Movies. Selecting a channel should place it in the currently active window, and you can see which channels are live at the top of the menu.

Unfortunately, it's not available to everyone just yet. It seems this is a staged rollout, meaning not all users will get access at the same time. Although, some commenters are reporting on Reddit that they already see the option. To see if it's available in your YouTube TV app, start by opening a live stream, then press the down arrow on your remote or select the video player on mobile with a tap. In the menu that appears, you'll see an "Add to multiview" option, which will open the selection menu.

This is part of a wider push to improve YouTube TV. The app is also getting a feature that's been available on mobile for years, enabling AI queries. Not to be confused with the YouTube app for TVs, it's Google's live-streaming service that offers traditional cable channels and local content. For anyone wondering if YouTube TV is actually worth it, it depends on how you're using your TV and if you enjoy more traditional live TV and cable-like content. Although, there are more than a few reasons why it's better than Hulu's version, among others.