By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –@tvanswerman
More than 30 years as a TV journalist.
TV Answer Man, can you explain why YouTube TV does not let US pick the games in Multiview? I have NFL Sunday Ticket, right? And I want to pick the games! — George, Portland, Maine.
What Is YouTube TV’s Multiview?
George, YouTube’s Multiview, which displays up to four channels on one screen at the same time, is a popular but controversial feature. It’s controversial because the user can’t pick the four channels; they are pre-selected by YouTube. For instance, during the NFL Sunday Ticket, there are multiple Multiview options, but each one includes games chosen by the streamer. This is frustrating, particularly for fantasy football players who want to follow specific teams and players. They want the four games to include players on their fantasy teams.
Although YouTube’s first nine weeks of providing the Ticket has been regarded as a success, at least to this reporter, the lack of customization for Multiview continues to be a sore spot with fans. So why doesn’t YouTube just add it? The company actually offers an explanation at its web site and it’s certainly a reasonable one:
What YouTube TV Says About Multiview’s Game Selection
“Our goal with Multiview is to make it available to everyone with a television. Since most devices don’t have the hardware to support Multiview, we have to do the processing of video feeds on our servers to make Multiview possible,” YouTube says. “This means that every unique combination watched in Multiview uses limited data center and computational resources. Because each region has unique, local content, we are especially constrained on the number of combinations we can create that include local feeds. We try to select the best combinations based on expected popularity and are always improving our processes.”
In an interview with Deadline, Mary Ellen Coe, YouTube’s chief business officer, elaborated on why you can’t choose the games: “That is a very hard thing to do technically. Put it this way, the feedback is, we hear you loud and clear. We have a seven-year relationship and will be looking to innovate in the future,” she said.
It sounds like Multiview customization is not coming soon. But at least we know why. YouTube is saying that most streaming devices and Smart TVs are simply not equipped to handle it.
George, hope that helps. Happy viewing and stay safe!
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvanswerman.com Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
The TV Answer Man is veteran journalist Phillip Swann who has covered the TV technology scene for more than three decades. He will report on the latest news and answer your questions regarding new devices and services that are changing the way you watch television. See the bio for Phillip Swann here.
The worst part about the multi view is if one of the games your watching on another tv is in the multi view- the game on the multi view is ahead of the same standalone feed on a 2nd tv!!
I saw multiple plays in the multiview BEFORE I saw them appear on screen in the standalone broadcast- sometimes by 5-6 seconds.
Very annoying/irritating
Please stop complaining, you have access. We live in rural NV with inadequate streaming and no more Directv Sunday ticket from our satellite dish. No one has made provisions for a multitude of rural customers to get an NFL package as you have. Please enjoy what you have, Bo!
Sorry John. You tell someone to stop complaining then you complain. Pathetic.
So you think not having Sunday Ticket unless you add some very expensive satellite package just for stream quality internet is just a complaint. The 8 view, 4 view we had on Sunday ticket was fine along with the 4 simultaneous unbuffered channels. To give you an idea: Starlink costs about $120/mo +$600 up front for this this much stream. TMobile 25MB cellular isn’t even offered in our area because they don’t have the bandwidth. The LTE offerings here sometime drop to near dial up speeds off and on during congestion. We’ve had the Ticket since it was new and would be very happy to pay for a passthrough for the Ticket on DTV but greed seems to get in the way.
I had Directv and you couldn’t pick the teams in the multi game view so Youtube TV is fine with me. This one has a few more options for games viewable. The timing is a bit annoying with the NFL Redzone as Bo mentioned.
This is what you call 1st world problems, stop whining and enjoy the games. I remember the days of no Sunday Ticket and stuck with regional coverage.
It’s funny because you could pick the games you wanted with the DirecTV NFLST iPad and Apple TV apps. The Apple TV (and maybe the Invidia Shield and gaming consoles) can support picking your own games, they have the horsepower to do it. It currently works with the ESPN and FuboTV apps, along with the Apple TV app for soccer games. So it could be done.
Basically, if your game is on a local channel, you’re screwed with likely just one combination to choose from.
But if your game is on a nationally-televised channel, or NFL Sunday Ticket, you’ll hav 69,420 different combinations to choose from which won’t have the one team you want in the combination because that one team airs on a local channel.
I understand why YouTubeTV wants as many people to have the feature, but shooting your own kneecaps in order to support the worst and weakest hardware streaming platform, the ROKU.
I’d say either dump ROKU for all the “cool” features, and do the high-performance bandwidth option to pick your own multiview channels with the device manufacturers who actually care about making their streaming devices the best they can be.
The plethora of cheap, $29 streaming devices, need to go away. There is a reason why the old-school cable box was $300 to $900 depending on if it was a basic set-top or a DVR set-top… they actually were powerful devices which could actually communicate large amounts of data between server and end-user.