DirecTV offers some comprehensive sports streaming packages, from its breadth of local channels and regional sports networks to the fact that most subscription tiers now include access to ESPN Unlimited. Starting this week, there’s yet another opportunity for fans to consume sports all the time on DirecTV: A new customizable Build Your Own Multiview tool has launched to help fans watch up to four events simultaneously.
Following in the footsteps of other services like Xfinity and YouTube TV, which have both been offering tailorable multiview tools for a while now, DirecTV’s new version will allow sports fans to create a customized two-, three-, or four-channel Multiview on one screen.
This is a pretty timely move, rolling out the feature just as major sports leagues overlap; Major League Baseball and the WNBA seasons are winding down, the NHL and NBA are beginning, and the NFL is already underway. There’s quite a bit of event overlap. That can make it tough for die-hard fans to choose what to watch. (Listen, I’m no Cheesehead, but the fact that the Packers are scheduled to play a Sunday night NFL game at the exact same time as the Brewers, who are on the cusp of heading to their first World Series in over 40 years, seems disrespectful to all Wisconsinites.)
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Build Your Own Multiview launched as part of the platform’s interface, which should make it easy enough for users to find. Once you start watching a channel, you can add other available sports channels to create a multi-screen lineup, and you can add or edit your choices at any time. Currently, channels that support the Multiview option include ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, FS1, NFL Network, NBA TV, MLB Network, NHL Network, CBS Sports Network, Golf Channel, Tennis Channel, ACC Network, Big Ten Network and SEC Network, and select games on local broadcast stations and national networks will also be available.
The Build Your Own Multiview tool launched on Monday, but at the moment it’s available only to DirecTV customers who subscribe to Signature plans (Entertainment, Choice, Ultimate, and Premier) and Genre Packs (i.e., MySports, MyEntertainment, MiEspañol, and more) and use a Gemini device or Roku. Additional supported devices, including Android TV, Fire TV, Vizio, LG, Apple TV and Tizen TV will eventually follow, though a date when those services will be available hasn’t been announced.