Apple TV is rolling out the multi-view feature in beta for sports fans

Rumors of Apple TV launching a multi-view feature – which was spotted by developer Steve Moser – are coming true. Tonight, Apple is debuting a beta version of the feature on the Apple TV 4K during its MLB Friday Night Baseball livestream, TechCrunch has learned.

Users participating in Apple’s beta software program must have tvOS beta 16.5 installed, which can be downloaded by going to the Settings app and selecting “System”, “Software Updates”, then “Get Updates”. beta update”.

Apple hasn’t officially announced when multiview will be widely available. There is no specific timeline yet for when tvOS 16.5 will officially be out of beta.

As first reported by Tom’s Guide, beta functionality is currently limited to Apple’s sports offerings – MLS Season Pass and MLB Friday Night Baseball. The feature will be available to MLS fans tomorrow when matchday eight kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET.

With multiview, users will be able to watch up to four matches at a time, which are displayed as a grid on the screen. To use the feature, viewers can start watching the game of their choice and then select the “Add Game” button.

The multi-viewing experience is customizable in many ways – so we’ve learned – and allows fans to move games around the screen, making one game bigger than the others or choosing to watch two or four split screens uniformly. If a user wants one game to take up the majority of the screen, then the other games are stacked to the right.

Fans can also switch between audio via the remote, so they can control the game they want to hear.

Similarly, YouTube TV is also testing a limited multi-view feature that’s only available to a select number of US users.

Apple’s Friday Night Baseball games are included with the $6.99/month Apple TV+ subscription. However, consumers must pay $12.99 or $14.99 per month for the MLS Season Pass, depending on whether they are an Apple TV+ subscriber.

Unlike Friday Night Baseball, which killed off its free offering this year, MLS Season Pass lets non-subscribers watch a few MLS games for free.

For Matchday 8, there will be five matches that fans can watch without subscribing. This includes Charlotte vs Colorado, Columbus vs New England, Minnesota vs Orlando, Toronto vs Atlanta and San Jose vs Kansas City.