Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- We’ve spotted strings suggesting that the Prime Video app could soon get support for multiview.
- Speculatively, this could allow users to stream multiple live streams simultaneously.
- Competing platforms like YouTube TV already offer multiview functionality for sports.
Prime Video is a great choice for streaming a top-rated show or movie, but Amazon also has ambitions set on live sports. Prime Video allows streaming various live sports in the US, and the streaming service recently landed a landmark 11-year deal to stream more NBA and WNBA games. It seems the service could soon add multiview functionality to make it easier for users to follow multiple simultaneous live streams.
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Amazon Prime Video v3.0.389 contains new strings that indicate that the streaming service is looking to add multiview functionality:
Code
<string name="AV_ANDROID_PLAYER_EXIT_MULTIVIEW_TEXT">Do you want to exit multiview?</string> <string name="AV_ANDROID_PLAYER_FAST_FORWARD_UNAVAILABLE">Fast forward unavailable during multiview</string> <string name="AV_ANDROID_PLAYER_PAUSE_UNAVAILABLE">Pause unavailable during multiview</string> <string name="AV_ANDROID_PLAYER_REWIND_UNAVAILABLE">Rewind unavailable during multiview</string> <string name="AV_ANDROID_PLAYER_SETUP_MULTIVIEW_TEXT">Set up your multiview</string> <string name="AV_MOBILE_ANDROID_PLAYER_MULTI_VIEW">Multiview</string> <string name="fable_icon_multiview"></string> <string name="multiview_error_message">There was an error playing this stream. Please remove and try again</string>As you can learn from the strings above, Prime Video could soon let you set up your own multiview, presumably to play multiple video streams simultaneously. Users will be unable to pause, rewind, or fast forward multiview streams.
The strings do not offer further insight, so we have to speculate a bit. Competitors like YouTube TV have a multiview feature, which allows you to watch up to four sports live streams simultaneously. The singular live streams are merged into the multiview on the server, so it works without a hitch across lower-end devices, too. Multiview was initially available only on YouTube TV on smart TVs and streaming devices, but it was expanded to Android phones and tablets in early 2024 and to YouTube a few months ago.
Joining the dots, Amazon perhaps wants to better compete with YouTube TV’s offerings in the live sports streaming market, and this upcoming multiview feature could be a good leveler. It’s not immediately clear how Prime Video will handle the multiview stream, whether it will be merged on-device or in the cloud, if and when this feature gets released.
We’ve reached out to Amazon for a comment on this upcoming multiview functionality within Prime Video. We’ll update this article when we hear back from them.
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