DirecTV knows that the fall season is right around the corner, and with it comes NFL action and college football. While the company was one of the first to offer multi-channel viewing decades ago, it’s back with a revamped system for the streaming era. DirecTV just introduced Mix Channels, where you can watch four channels or sporting events on one screen.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve seen this type of option from DirecTV, Dish, and others for a while now, not to mentionMultiview is one of my favorite YouTube TV features. Watching four channels simultaneously is a big deal, and DirecTV knows it.
With the new Mix Channels, you can take advantage of seven new “multiview” mixes on DirecTV Stream, making it easy to enjoy endless content without flipping back and forth between channels. Starting today, these new mixes allow for a wide range of content, not just sports. And while the NFL season and NCAAF are obvious reasons to try it, it’s not the only thing you can do.
For now, it looks like DirecTV will only offer quad boxes, meaning you can watch four channels at once, like ESPN, NBC, Fox Sports, etc. However, there’s a good chance it’ll allow for two or three simultaneous channels, but we’ll have to wait and see. Here are the options as announced by the company:
Additionally, there’s a “Locals Mix” in select areas where local channels are available. With the Signature or MySports packages, you may take advantage of ABS, CBS, Fox, and NBC.
The company’s head of product, Vikash Sharma, said in a statement, “DIRECTV has innovation in our DNA and is proud to have pioneered multi-channel viewing nearly two decades ago. Now we’re bringing the next generation of multiview to streaming with new mix channels to give consumers more flexibility and control over how they watch and discover their favorite programming—whether it’s four games, four news channels, or a mix for everyone in the house.”
DirecTV Stream
With access to NFL RedZone and the NFL Network, along with all your local and national broadcasts, you may catch most games with a DirecTV Stream subscription.
For now, it doesn’t look like this is customizable in any fashion. For example, you may’t put NFL Network into the Sports Mix with FS1 and NBC Sports to watch different things. However, when YouTube rolled out its version of this technology for streaming, it wasn’t customizable either, but now you cancreate your own multiview. We’re hopeful that DirecTV will eventually allow for something similar.
Either way, get ready for endless sports this fall, multiple games on one screen, and all sorts of game-day snacks.
