YouTube TV, Google’s take on cable TV, could soon let viewers watch up to four live streams at once in a new feature called “Mosaic Mode” reports protocol. That’s according to a private presentation Google gave to its smart TV hardware partners, in which the search giant also discussed optimizations for YouTube Shorts on the big screen, as well as new YouTube Music functionality.
Mosaic Mode is reminiscent of a similar feature that was available with Sony’s now-defunct PlayStation Vue service. Although it was announced in a presentation to hardware manufacturers for Google TV and Android TV, protocol notes that the feature will likely eventually appear on non-Android smart TVs from Samsung and LG, as Google likes to keep its services consistent across different hardware.
Other new features detailed in the presentation include optimizations for YouTube Shorts, the company’s TikTok-style short video service, when viewed on large screens. The report suggests that the YouTube Shorts interface on smart TVs could eventually ditch the scroll bar used to browse traditional YouTube videos, as well as provide quick access to the thumbs up and thumbs down buttons. While YouTube Shorts can currently be viewed in the YouTube app on some smart TVs (such as LGs), they play with a standard YouTube interface that isn’t well suited to their short form style.
Google’s development of the feature comes as TikTok increasingly penetrates the smart TV space. Though traditionally thought of as a mobile service, TikTok is now available on a range of smart TV platforms from Samsung, LG, Google, and Amazon. But protocol notes that Google has the advantage of having YouTube pre-installed on many TVs, while customers have to manually search for TikTok apps.
Finally, YouTube Music also has some new features for smart TVs, such as the ability for subscribers to browse playlists and albums and add them to their libraries.
Google didn’t respond right away The Verges request for comment, but protocol reports that at least one of the new features could come in an update “in the coming months.”