AT&T today announced the launch of several new enhancements for U-verse TV customers, including Multiview, an app that lets you watch multiple channels at one time, and a Media Sharing feature which lets you stream personal photos and music files from your PC to your U-verse TV. Again this is something we thought had been on the service from day one. These additions are offered to all U-verse customers for free.
It also added a kind of barker channel called ‘TV Awards and New Shows’ which it says is actually an application, not a channel, which helps you stay on top of new season premieres, so really just an interactive guide with a lot of trailers.
The U-verse TV Multiview lets you watch up to four channels at once with just one of them offering audio. We can see it now, with Dad reduced to watching sport in a corner of the screen, while the rest of the family watches Lost because they go into withdrawal if they miss an episode.
But this is actually part way towards the long promised picture in picture and Mosiac EPG, first promised in 2005, where many tiny channels would be shown live at once. This is just another resolution size for the encoders to have to spit out and run in the multicast.
But this is designed to replace the EPG by using the down or up arrows on your remote to scroll through the picture-in-picture screens to see additional channels or those within the same genre. It is also a natural for searching for something to record for later in the DVR, while watching something else you don’t want to interrupt.
The TV Awards and New Shows is an app which gives more information on this year’s award-nominated television programs and details on new TV series premiering in the fall. The app is available on channel 95 (so it IS a barker channel) and lets you view a list of all programs nominated for the Primetime Emmy Awards, Teen Choice Awards and Television Critics Association Awards. It also lets you vote using the remote.