Prime Video might steal YouTube TV’s best sports streaming feature

The TV show poster for The Boys on a TV next to other devices
(Image credit: Amazon)

  • Prime video app code tease 'Multiview'
  • YouTube TV multiview lets you watch several sports games at once
  • No official word yet on when or if it'll arrive in the app

Prime Video could be getting a YouTube feature, which will be perfect for its expansion into live sports. Leaked code suggests the best streaming service could soon be adding multiview.

That’s according to Android Authority, who dug through the code of the Prime Video app – specifically v3.0.389 – and found several strings referencing “multiview”. Such as:

<string name="AV_ANDROID_PLAYER_SETUP_MULTIVIEW_TEXT">Set up your multiview</string>
<string name="AV_ANDROID_PLAYER_PAUSE_UNAVAILABLE">Pause unavailable during multiview</string>
<string name="AV_ANDROID_PLAYER_REWIND_UNAVAILABLE">Rewind unavailable during multiview</string>

Beyond setting up a multiview it appears that Prime Video's version of the feature won’t let users pause, rewind, or fast forward while it’s active.

What is multiview?

While a name alone isn’t much to go on, we can turn to Prime Video competitors to learn what multiview might entail. YouTube TV’s multiview version of the tool allows you to watch four sports live streams at the same time.

The advantage of this is if there are several matches on at the same time that you’re keen to tune into you can do it all on one screen without ever needing to change channel.

Explore the Benefits of Multiview on YouTube TV - YouTube Explore the Benefits of Multiview on YouTube TV - YouTube
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In some versions of the tool, you could even throw on an entirely different video feed – perhaps in Prime Video's case a new episode of a show you love – so you can watch that with sports happening in the background. Perfect for when a game gets stale, or if you can’t agree who should control the TV.

All of this is speculation for now. There’s no word yet on when Prime Video will get multiview – assuming it even does at all – and if multiview does arrive we’ll have to see what form it takes. It would make a lot of sense, so hopefully it does land in the near future, but we’ll have to wait and see.

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Hamish Hector
Senior Staff Writer, News

Hamish is a Senior Staff Writer for TechRadar and you’ll see his name appearing on articles across nearly every topic on the site from smart home deals to speaker reviews to graphics card news and everything in between. He uses his broad range of knowledge to help explain the latest gadgets and if they’re a must-buy or a fad fueled by hype. Though his specialty is writing about everything going on in the world of virtual reality and augmented reality.