Sky Q adds split-screen viewing to double the excitement and stress of live Premier League matches

The feature should let people keep up with the often busy – and conflicting – final moments of the Premier League

Dimitri Payet is expected to start for the Hammers on Saturday (Getty Images)

Sky Q will now let people watch two football matches at once, with a new split screen mode.

The company will now let people watch sports by putting two live streams next to one another. That might let people watch different views of a Formula 1 race, for instance, or two Wimbledon tennis matches at the same time.

But it will presumably come into its own on stressful and conflicting occasions like the end of the Premier League. So long as people have access to both channels, they’ll be able to put both games alongside each other and watch them at once.

As well as that, viewers will be able to use a new feature called Video Clips. That will let people watch highlights from the Premier League or Formula 1 while live events show alongside.

The Live Streams feature has two options: Match Choice, which lets people watch two football matches or tennis games side-by-side at once, and Race Choice which gives two different camera angles on Formula One.

Sky Q is Sky’s pitch for the future of TV viewing. It packs in the same features as the traditional Sky+ box – but among other new features includes a range of tuners that let it show multiple channels at once.

The new sport features launch alongside a range of other features that also include box sets that can be bought and kept and ways of more easily looking through live TV feeds.

“We know our customers absolutely love watching live sports and the new Sky Q features will give them the flexibility to choose how they watch,” said Luke Bradley-Jones, Sky’s brand director of TV and content products. “Whether it’s a Premier League match or Formula 1® race, customers can simply choose split screen viewing and watch the most talked about goal again and again, or two live races side by side.”

The company unveiled the Sky Q box and service earlier this year. Since then it has been gradually adding new features like auto download and playing of new episodes to make it easier to binge watch.

Other features including voice search are expected to roll out to the box in the future.