YouTube TV viewers will soon build their own four-screen layouts instead of choosing from preset bundles, the platform announced Wednesday, a move that lets households blend sports, news, and entertainment on one television.
At a Glance
- Customizable multiview rolls out after two years of limited pre-selected bundles.
- CEO Neal Mohan revealed the upgrade in his 2025 annual letter.
- Genre-specific channel packages also coming, pricing and date still under wraps.
- Why it matters: Families can stop fighting over remotes and watch four personal feeds together.
The Upgrade Path
YouTube TV introduced multiview in 2023 with sports-only quad boxes. It later added news, weather, and lifestyle channels, but users had to accept bundles such as CNN with MSNBC or HGTV with Food Network. A small test group recently gained the freedom to mix any channels, and that experiment is now becoming the default.
How It Works
- Press the down arrow on the YouTube TV remote.
- Tap the Multiview icon or select “Watch Multiview.”
- Pick up to three additional live channels to sit beside the current feed.
- The screen divides automatically; audio follows the highlighted quadrant.
New Channel Packages
Alongside the multiview expansion, YouTube TV will sell genre-specific bundles-sports, news, family, or entertainment-so subscribers pay only for the categories they watch. The company has not released prices or launch timing beyond saying details will arrive “in the coming months.”
Family Appeal
The letter pitched the combined changes as ideal for larger households where parents, teens, and kids rarely agree on programming. Instead of four separate screens scattered through the house, one television can now stream a cartoon, a sitcom, a ballgame, and a cable-news segment simultaneously.
Market Context
YouTube TV ended 2024 with more than 8 million subscribers, making it the largest internet-delivered TV bundle in the United States. Competitors such as FuboTV and DirecTV Stream offer similar multi-screen modes, but none yet allow fully user-built channel combinations.
What’s Still Missing
The platform did not say whether the custom layouts will work on every supported device or only on newer televisions and streaming sticks. It also left unanswered whether DVR recordings can join live channels in a quad view, or whether the feature will remain exclusive to live linear feeds.
Early Reaction
Cord-cutting forums lit up within minutes of Mohan’s letter, with users posting mock-ups that blended local news, NBA League Pass, Spanish-language sports, and niche cable channels. Several asked if YouTube TV will cap the number of custom layouts a household can save; the company has not responded publicly.
Bottom Line
YouTube TV is moving from rigid bundles to viewer-curated grids, a shift that could keep sports fans, news junkies, and reality-TV watchers under the same monthly bill. The next test will be whether the price of the new mini-bundles undercuts the current $82.99 base plan or quietly nudges it higher.
