Amazon Prime Video may get YouTube TV’s awesome multiview feature

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A look at Amazon Prime Video’s code reveals that Amazon is building one of the best YouTube TV features – multiview. It would be a game-changer, literally, for one of them best streaming services.

The potential new feature was discovered by Android Authority in one of their regular APK dives. In the latest build of the Prime Video app, version 3.0.389, they discovered code strings like “exit_multiview_text.” Based on these strings, it appears that Amazon is working on a version of multiview that would let viewers set what appears in the various boxes.

Multiview, especially how YouTube TV uses the feature, is best for live sports like NFL Sunday Ticket or March Madness. There you can watch up to four streams simultaneously. YouTube TV added the ability to stream non-sports content, but most people use it for sports. This year, the company added the ability to use a basic version of multiview in the mobile app, which has “predetermined” options.

Amazon has had clear ambitions to add live sports to Prime Video for a few years. For the past few seasons, Prime has streamed Thursday Night Football for the NFL, and it recently signed one 11-year-old deadl to stream NBA and WNBA games.

A bit of code appears to be an attempt by Amazon to add a multiview button to the mobile Prime Video app, specifically on Android. This code reveals that users cannot rewind, pause or skip forward in multiview, indicating more of a live offering.

Although the code specifies an “Android_player” which points to a TV app or Prime Video TV app integration, it does not clarify how many streams can be combined in its version of multiview.

So far, based on what was found, these strings are a start, but won’t tell us how Amazon’s version of multiview might work. Will there be four or more streams? Can you build a multiview with the games or shows you want to watch or will it be predetermined?

It’s also unclear how far along Amazon is in building multiview, so we could see this feature very soon, or it might never come out. That’s the risk with APK teardowns, as they give us hints of what companies are building, but the features may change or may be canceled in the meantime.

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