To the appreciation, if not delight, of sports fans, Google is allowing YouTube TV subscribers to exercise more choice in what games to watch in their multiview windows. YouTube TV offers the option of watching up to four different sporting or news events simultaneously on a single screen. However, it doesn’t allow endless free choice, but presents combination options. Users complained and Google responded by serving up more multiview combinations to choose from, but stopped short of generating customizable multiplex streaming feeds for each user.

This week, YouTube TV began allowing some NBA League Pass subscribers to select which games from an abbreviated list. YouTube TV then creates a multiview channel that reflects their choices. The feature is debuting on all devices that support multiview, but choices will be limited to preselected NBA games.

“Sadly, you can’t pick any channel you want,” writes Cord Cutters News, noting that selections are mainly limited to a handful of sporting events “at this time.”

Tom’s Hardware says it is a significant improvement for sports fans, noting that YouTube TV launched Multiview in 2023 during March Madness, expanding the number of games as well as adding some non-sports content in the ensuing months. 9to5Mac calls the new Build feature “faster and more flexible.”

Digital Trends calls multiview “a must-have feature” based on “the sheer size of today’s latest and greatest televisions,” and says “that’s been good for services like YouTube TV, ESPN+, Fubo, and Apple TV, which have their own implementations.”

The new offering is still being tested among a limited number of YouTube TV subscribers. Google said from the start that it intended to continue working to improve the technology, posting on X last year that “we’re hoping to make this customizable for you in the future.”