A few YouTube TV subscribers will be able to test out a long-awaited feature for the Internet-based TV service. Today, the official YouTube blog stated that the multiview feature will be available in limited early access, allowing some users to watch as many as four TV channels on screen at once.
The test will consist of some pre-selected channels that support the multiview feature. Based on the published screenshots, four of those channels will be CBS, TBS, TNT, and TruTV, All of those channels will be broadcasting NCAA basketball games this week as part of the "March Madness" national college basketball tournament. The event is perfect for testing the multiview feature.
The YouTube TV team expanded on a feature in the regular YouTube service that allowed content creators to perform a split-screen so two of them could be on at the same time. Over time the multiview feature will expand to more YouTube TV subscribers and will give them the option later to customize the channels they can watch.
All of this will give YouTube TV lots of time to test the feature before it launches NFL Sunday Ticket in the fall of 2023, which will give subscribers access to all the Sunday afternoon NFL games. The multiview feature is also coming to the standard YouTube service sometime in the future.