Apple TV is making an upgrade that will make sports fans very happy. The iOS 16.5 beta code refers to the new quadruple display feature in the Apple TV app.
Picture-in-Picture mode is currently available in the app, but this only allows the user to view a second stream in a small pop-up box. This upgrade will support up to four streams, displayed in a grid format. Code references were first spotted by Steve Moser (Opens in a new tab)but Apple has not made a confirmation or announcement.
Apple TV joins Fubo and YouTube TV, which already offer a quadruple viewing experience. On Fubo, multiple shows can only be accessed via the Apple TV app. YouTube TV’s multi-view feature, previously called “Mosaic Mode,” is currently rolling out to some March Madness users. Neither Fire TV nor Roku devices offer such a feature.
Apple has ramped up its live sports offerings in the past year. Currently, they have an exclusive broadcast deal with Major League Soccer and one with Major League Baseball to air some games on Friday nights. The company is said to be planning to bid TV rights in the English Premier League (Opens in a new tab) In the UK, as well as media rights in PAC-12 College Athletic (Opens in a new tab).
Code in the iOS 16.5 beta indicates that multi-display will only work within the TV app, not across the entire platform. A user who selects a sports program in the TV application will be able to choose to watch in full screen mode or in multi-view mode.
This could be more like Operation Fubo, and different from the current implementation of YouTube TV, where they give users a predefined set of events to watch. Plans are in place for YouTube TV to improve multi-view traffic.
One reference states that a message will be displayed if the user attempts to add a fifth program, prompting them to remove a game in order to add a new one.
As for when the multiple shows will become a reality, that’s unclear. References are only in demo code, so it may take a while. As is typical for betas, iOS 16.5 is currently only available to users with an Apple developer account. No public beta release has been announced.
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