Four channels in one TV screen

Question: What if you can see four channels at a time?

“We have to wait for a long time watching ads before a movie starts. I’ll spend that time watching other channels.” (Lee Soo-min, a housewife)

“I always quarrel with my wife over a choice between news and dramas. We don’t need to fight any more.” (Cho Jae-hyeon, an office worker)

A newly-wed couple living in a small apartment buys a 50-inch wide television. As a TV grows even larger, a new service that splits the screen into four sections and shows different channels has been launched. If a person is a big fan of baseball, he or she can watch four different matches on the screen at once. Given that a 47-inch screen television is sold most, the service is like setting up four 22-inch screens with different channels at a place.

According to LG Uplus on Tuesday, the company provides its U+TV G subscribers of Internet-protocol television (IPTV) with HD Multiview service, which splits the screen into four and airs different channels" from Thursday. Existing LG Uplus IPTV subscribers and new subscribers can use the service without paying extra charge.

The new service will provide four ground wave channels, four sports cable and IPTV channels, and four home shopping channels, while the ground wave channels will be served only to subscribers in Seoul due to local program time. According to the service provider, it will continue increasing the number of channels to include general programming channels and movie channels. In the initial stage of the service, however, it is impossible to watch channels, which consumers might want, mixing a drama from a ground wave channel with a baseball match and a home shopping channel. Instead, they can watch four channels that are already grouped such as “ground wave channels at a glance” or “sports channels at a glance.”

“Viewers will soon be able to pick four channels that they want and watch them at once,” said Kang Hyeon-goo, head of the smart home business division at LG Uplus. “Though viewers had to flip channels, they can now explore the channels as they want to watch four different channels at a time.”

The switch between one screen and four split screens has smoothly been flipped the exhibition on Tuesday. No downgrade was found in screen quality or blinking. “Consumers can watch the channels that are aired on the screen at the same time in HD quality. Unlike a mono sound in the past, people can enjoy a vivid stereo sound with spilt screens," the company said. However, only one sound can be picked out of the four channels.

Through application stores “Google Play” and “U+ Store,” LG Uplus distributes “soft remote control” applications free of charge from Thursday to help subscribers use the new service. A television screen, which appears on a Google Android-based smartphone, can be controlled by touching the smartphone screen.