Apple is trying something new with the latest tvOS 16.5 beta: the ability to watch up to four simultaneous streams at once. Currently, you're limited to live sports streamed through the Apple TV app on Apple TV 4K, specifically MLB Friday Night Baseball and MLS Season Pass.
A multi-view option was detected in the tvOS software last month, but the code was hidden and not enabled. MacRumors(Opens in a new tab) reported that the feature would be available this weekend and beta testers have already been able to use it.
As of now, Apple has not officially announced Multi-View, but tvOS 16.5 is expected to be released in its final form within a month or so. WWDC 2023 is also fast approaching, when we should be hearing about the next major updates to Apple's various operating systems, including tvOS 17.
How does it work
There's a hands-on demo of how multiview works on 9to5Mac (opens in a new tab), and it's pretty much what I expected. It is available when multiple live games are available through a sports service on the TV app.
When this is the case and you are watching a live game, a grid icon will appear above the playback slider when you open the controls toolbar. Select that grid icon and you'll be able to select a second, third, and fourth game to watch.
You can only listen to audio from one stream at a time, and the Siri Remote is used to switch between audio tracks. There are a variety of layout options available: you can keep one sequence in one window larger than the others, or have all windows the same size.
Analysis: Apple could bet big on sports
The common thought is that all of our attention spans decrease year by year, but you really wouldn't want to watch four movies simultaneously or four episodes of the same TV show. Where it really makes sense is with sports broadcasts.
Sure, you can't exactly split your brain to focus on four games at once, but a feature like this means you can keep checking out what's going on in multiple places – very useful if you want to know how opposing teams are progressing.
It's really limited for now: not only do you need the beta software, but you can only watch US baseball and soccer. However, this could be a sign that Apple plans to invest more in sports programming in the future.
There have been rumors that Apple is seeking the rights to show UK Premier League football, although it's worth keeping in mind that those rights may not include the option to stream multiple games simultaneously.